There’s Freedom in Deconstruction

Many times, abstract art is the result of examining something tangible or conceptual, taking it apart, and presenting it in a different manner. Brazilian painter and sculpture artist José Bechara understands how to take complex, external influences from one’s life and transform them into meticulous creations that cause us to question the depth of what they may be representing. He touches on how his work engages with the space where they’re found. “Through the experimentation of different materials and territories in dimensional and three dimensional works. Along the years, I have always worked on paintings, sculptures and installations dialoguing with the space (by building or activating it), memories and time, as well as its impacts on individuals and society,” he says.

Aesthetic

Each of Bechara’s pieces are creatively planned out. The sharp edges, raw materials, geometrical conjunctions, and linear pathways show flexibility within a rigid setting. Each piece takes on such a dimensional stance that it allows viewers to contemplate its many layers and angles, even in the paintings, where the thin lines are delicate mazes that blend with the industrial-like backbone found in the background.

He explains, “Even as a fan of geometry, I like to confront its history and tradition, rejecting the idea of a “perfect form” promised by geometry as we see in art history. Geometry, in my work, celebrates failure, doubt and it hesitates against life, as I believe we do, as humans, every day.” The sculptures instigate a gravitational challenge for our perception of what we already know about art to expand. Many of these pieces act like a rebellion against what shapes should look when combined. They force you to embrace that imperfect perfection, chaos, and closely inspect each linear and material interaction within each piece.

Deeper Meaning

It is the raw elements found in Bechara’s work that makes the pieces even more engaging. The use of oxidation, wood, and subtleties of color allow the sculptures and paintings to hold a level of fragility. There’s a sense of impermanence too, as if everything could change with one touch. One that is tied to deconstructive elements of what is underneath, like looking at the structural bones of a home instead of the facade. 

This narrative takes us back to the original stance of personal dialogue with the external world when looking at his work. One that speaks of looking within to discover what is underneath the surface, and then rebuilding that narrative based on what you find there, first and foremost. Bechara expands on this topic, “I am not a narrator of daily life; I am an abstract artist. However, I am always attentive to the average dramas of existence, especially of the effects social dynamics have in individuals'  lives. The relationship between past and present, work and environment. In a certain way, I believe some of my main questions, described above as failure, inexorability of time, finitude, hesitation and the fragility of daily life, touch on some people’s social dramas.”

Conclusion

The way we look at Bechara’s work can provide insight on our lives’ own twists and turns. At times, things fall apart, literally or figuratively, and that is what his work is asking us to look at sometimes. That necessary curve ball that life throws at us is at times a necessity to regain perspective and rebuild in a different, better way. 

All photos courtesy of José Bechara. For more about his work, please visit his website.

Today’s poem represents the multidimensional aspects of life found in José’s work:

My House is the Red Earth

BY JOY HARJO

My house is the red earth; it could be the center of the world. I’ve heard New York, Paris, or Tokyo called the center of the world, but I say it is magnificently humble. You could drive by and miss it. Radio waves can obscure it. Words cannot construct it, for there are some sounds left to sacred wordless form. For instance, that fool crow, picking through trash near the corral, understands the center of the world as greasy strips of fat. Just ask him. He doesn’t have to say that the earth has turned scarlet through fierce belief, after centuries of heartbreak and laughter—he perches on the blue bowl of the sky, and laughs.

Shaping the Wind

Veronica Matiz’s 3D sculptural visions are driven by her curiosity to transform raw elements. The Colombian artist’s fondness for the visual arts came naturally to her in childhood. She explains, “My taste for art started from a very young age, if I remember correctly since I was 6 years old. My mother would drop me off at an aunt's house after school, she was a student at the Faculty of Arts at the National University. She showed me everything she did and let me use her paints and materials, which founded my passion for art.”

Aesthetics

Matiz’s sculptures are composed of geometric shapes that blend seamlessly. Each steel piece complements the previous one to provide that “growing” effect that adds to the gestalt of the sculpture. It is in that repetition of shapes that gives her work a sense of solidity, which is then matched with a color that is as equally striking to the eye. “The aspects that matter the most in my work are light, shape, color and material; it is these elements that help me openly create, and geometry is an essential part. [There is] play and experiment with different angles in a constant search, giving it movement and achieving different shapes in the same sculpture,” she says. 

It is through the motion-like shaping that the sculptures create that airy yet grounded aesthetic to them. Each piece’s center of gravity allows for the sculpture to be built upon piece by piece, which then evokes freely created movement. The finished product at times resembles those organic shapes found in nature and living things.

The artist touches on this aspect, “I started making sculptures with pure geometry, playing with the juxtaposition of form and discovering the wide use of steel sheets. With this cold and masculine material, I managed to create harmonic forms with movement and volume; simulating nature as with butterflies and their great variety of colors and shapes.”

A Deeper Meaning

There is a slight hypnotic element to Matiz’s work. It comes from the way the geometric elements form patterns through repetition. The effect also results in a unique experience for every person. Matiz’s sculptures are a 360° experience and what one sees will depend on where they are standing.

Her work is strong proof of how something simple as a line or curve can be made into something non-static and that evolves. The bright paint colors evoke strong feelings of liveliness, which is indicative of that pull and push view set in motion by each sculpture. Matiz explains, “My evolution can be seen in each of my works, I am always trying to innovate, be it with shape, color, or texture. I always want to put out works that occur to me and seem almost impossible.”

One Last Note

What makes Matiz’s work most enjoyable is the fact that she challenges herself and the viewer to drop assumptions about materials and what is possible through art. She transforms rigid materials, making them appear pliable. Matiz breaks the boundary of what abstract sculpture should look like by making it bold, bendable, and beautiful.

She is currently working on new pieces that will be unveiled next month. “I'm working on new organic shapes, experimenting with colors, and with oxide. I am doing large format, three-dimensional wall sculptures. In September we will see the first results,” she says, and we look forward to it!

For more on the artist’s work, please visit her website.

*Interview translated from Spanish

Today’s poem resembles those seamless sculptural shapes found in Veronica’s work:

Waves

By Louise Townsend Nicholl

One by one upon my shore

    The little waves are laid,

Each one a new and perfect thing

    Which the sea has made.

From that which is forever old

    They come, forever young,

The latest, faintest echoes

    Of the song the sea has sung.

They echo it in whispers.

    I listen ceaselessly,

For fear the echoes die away

    And I should hear the sea.

The Parallel Universe Within

In the surrealist work of Washington D.C. based photographer and artist Don D’marco, the viewer is free to explore life from a subconscious stance. His photographs are created in a collage-like manner resembling fascinating visions you’d find in an alternate reality, a future world, or a scene from an art house film. 

D’marco’s start in the art scene is fairly recent, but he’s already embracing his creative vision. “I found art a couple of years ago, I purchased my first camera in 2017 and it kinda took off from there. I came across the Surrealist Movement after doing a little research, and there was an instant connection. I loved everything about it, the way it takes you to places so wild and unfamiliar blew my mind,” he explains.

The Surrealist Movement began circa 1916 in Europe as the study of that which the eye does not see, which is what makes these works creatively distinct. As André Breton, French writer and one of the fathers of surrealism, stated, that artists should “therefore seek a purely interior model or cease to exist.” An idea that parallels D’marco’s work.

Vision

One of the main focuses in D’marco’s work is humanity. His artistic landscapes relate to everyday experiences that become magnified and more meaningful. In D’marco’s work, we observe individuals who react to their environments, but because these are surrealistic works, the environments are also reacting to the individual.

“I'll take pictures of anything wherever I go, constantly looking for material I might be able to work with. Working on my photos is always a therapeutic and exciting time for me. I can be at home doing absolutely nothing or at my busy job when an idea for a photo comes to mind. I like to just take the simple idea of "things just not making sense" and go from there,” D’marco says.

Composition

D’marco’s clean aesthetic provides a flow for mood-inducing visuals. Just as there is control, there’s also freedom in his work. Body language and positioning tell us about what exists within the subjects’ minds and how they create a reaction to their environment. Most times they seem to be in control of the circumstances and everything else just falls into place engulfing them. But we can see there are moments of a loss of control and consequences, like the man being pulled apart by the car and the woman photographed upside down with white eyes.

Interpretation 

D’marco creates a striking balance of shapes, light, shadow, texture, and surprise elements. It’s an act of taking apart our psyche and understanding it piece by piece, and even when it isn’t meant to be understood, it can be represented in a new way. Be it feelings, thoughts, fears, or anything that can be ambiguous at times. Or as Salvador Dali describes surrealism, “ [it] destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.”

“I would say that art has definitely changed the way I look at the world, so I can imagine I’ll still be working on it when I'm old and gray. I'm excited to keep growing, learning new skills, and meeting new people. Just got a Sears KS film camera so have new material from that coming soon,” D’marco explains.

Final Thoughts 

D’marco understands what it means to be in touch with the self, a skill that makes artists authentic and allows them to express themselves from the soul. Taking apart a vision is only the beginning of understanding. That’s when his work comes in, by creating space to start that thought-related conversation with ourselves and others.

All photos courtesy of the artist. For more on Don D’marco’s work, please visit his website.

Today’s poem is inspired by Don’s mindful vision of oneself, internally and externally.

Keeping Things Whole

BY MARK STRAND

In a field

I am the absence

of field.

This is

always the case.

Wherever I am

I am what is missing.

When I walk

I part the air

and always

the air moves in   

to fill the spaces

where my body’s been.

We all have reasons

for moving.

I move

to keep things whole.