A Walk in the Rainforest

May 20, 2019 in Art, Contemporary art, Latin American art

Figure 1. One of Brugmann’s mural in Brazil.

The South American landscape is both a natural gift and a mysterious force. For many South Americans, the tropics of the rainforest represent the heart of a continent that has endured so much socially, environmentally, and politically. As each country continues to evolve from setbacks, the artists living there remind us of the beauty and resilience that’s very much present within the people, the scenery, and the culture.

Argentine artist Miriam Brugmann is part of a forward thinking sociopolitical mentality, which seeps through the messages in her work. As a resident of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, her main muse is the verdant landscape surrounding her. Brugmann’s ceramics and paintings connect us with a mystical and beautiful world she creates to embody the liveliness of South American life; one that is constantly immersed in the unapologetic lifestyle of the people, the music, the appreciation for nature, and the streets of Brazil.

At the beginning of her career, Brugmann focused on paintings and illustrations. She then moved on to ceramics by creating utilitarian items such as flowerpots, cups, and plates. But something changed in her imaginative process and called her to become more message/goal driven with her work.

“There wasn’t a big creative process and it was all very basic, which wasn’t making me happy. I wasn’t conveying what I really wanted to get across. So I began creating unique ceramic pieces and I also returned to painting and making murals, leading me to the creative process again. I started finding and defining my style and focusing on what I wanted to communicate. Right now I’m between ceramics, illustrations and murals,” she explains.

Brugmann channels the spirit of her environments in her work as an avid observer of how everything represents a force beyond the ordinary; from the variety of plants to the colorful animals, to the empowered stance of Latin American women.

She adds, “Nature and the Brazilian landscape are crucial to my work, especially Bahia, which is very exuberant, and also Rio. There are a lot of mountains, trees and nature is everywhere. It’s very lavish. You’re looking at it the whole time and the images stay with me and go directly to the work I’m making.”

The rainforest elements in Brugmann’s work are a symbol of refuge that encourage viewers to connect with their roots and to embrace who they are today in relation to the culture from which their ancestors come from.

Figure 3. Ceramic pieces are part of Brugmann’s artistic talents.

Her ceramics are inspired by pre-Columbian pottery from Peru and Mexico. A style she first fell in love with at the Museo Rocsen in Córdoba, Argentina, which houses a collection of over 18,000 pieces of archaeological objects from all around the world. One can see where the inspiration emerged for her ceramics, as pieces from ancient Mexico and the Inca empire often portrayed daily details about how people lived and their environment/resources. When you observe Brugmann’s creations, you notice a sense of strength and beauty that capture the native life and its connectivity with nature and a higher ancient power. Her creations tell us that there’s so much to learn when it comes to culture, and if you look past the superficial elements you’ll find a world thriving in its organic existence beyond stereotypes and any social or political struggle.

A strong overarching theme in Brugmann’s artwork also points to female empowerment. She explains, “[In my work] the care and respect for nature are aspects that were always present. And women, well it can be translated to something feminist like a message… there’s a support and a presence for that cause in my life.”

Figure 4. Empowering messages for the people of Latin America are important in Brugmann’s work.

The women portrayed in her paintings resemble mythical beings with a strong mission to positively affect their lives and communities. Some embody a messenger or spirit animal quality to them. With angelic wings and a fierce stare, these pieces evoke strength and a connection to native cultures, including those indigenous to the rainforest. They represent women who are in touch with their inner power by fending for themselves, the animals, and nature overall in a peaceful yet assertive manner by prioritizing mother nature in a similar way the native people of South America did since pre-Columbian times.

In a way, Brugmann’s work shares the evolution of these women, who like myself, have witnessed social change that hasn’t always been in our favor. Yet thanks to these transitions, more South American women feel revolutionized to embrace their inner power while creating resistance and awareness on human rights and the rights of many generations of women to come.

Explore more of Brugmann’s work by visiting her page. All photos courtesy of the artist.

* Interview translated from Spanish.

The following prose is inspired by the strength and love of nature found in Miriam’s artwork:

at the maracuyá tree

By claudina milagros

On the left side of the maracuyá tree sits my mother,

Her face reflects anxiety of the past.

I tell her she raised two strong daughters who turned into mothers

And that painting those neon floral tablecloths at the market was her artistic gift.

She smiles and pours fresh soil at the base of the tree.

Humidity is in the air.

On the right side of the maracuyá tree sits my sister,

Her peaceful face reflects hidden fear of what’s to come.

I tell her she raised two resilient boys, and that she makes a rainy day seem sunny with her laughter.

She smiles and waters the soil all around the tree.

In front of the maracuyá tree stands my reflection

It asks, “What do you see?”

“ I see discernment in the eyes of the moon and the sun. A woman whose work has been transformed but is not yet done,” I reply.

A ripe maracuyá falls at my feet. My toes are sprinkled with soil.

I pick it up along with my shovel. I walk, dig and plant a small fig tree.

For another mother, another sister, another friend and another daughter.

The cerulean bird follows my steps as I walk towards home

My hand guided by the burning sun behind the lush trees of the rainforest.

*Note: maracuyá is passion fruit in Spanish.

The Light that Sparks the Beholder’s Eye

May 02, 2019 in Art, Contemporary art, DC artist, Photography

Photography gives us a chance to gain a new perspective on life, and in Steven Marks’ case the viewers of his work connect with that reality through a psychological lens. The vivacity of his snapshots has the ability to grab your attention immediately, but there’s something that calls for your introspection about the elements being portrayed in each photo.

The Washington D.C. based photographer is an example of how life-changing experiences are no obstacle for finding one’s true artistic vision. Marks started taking photographs professionally during 1978 in Chicago. While his career began in communications and journalism, it was working with established photographers that led him towards opportunity in a medium he didn’t initially intend to pursue.

He explains, “I came under the tutelage of several fine commercial and art photographers who helped me find my way, the most important of which were Nathan Lerner and Barbara Crane. Although I learned a lot from Crane, Lerner was the far more important model. He printed his famous Maxwell Street photos at The Darkroom, and was one of the first teachers hired by Arthur Siegel at the Institute of Design [in Chicago].”

What makes Steven’s story extraordinary was his ability to succeed as a photographer over time despite medical complications, which damaged his vision in both eyes during the mid 80s. But when central vision was restored in his left eye in 2012, he continued to pursue photography in a newfound way by fine-tuning his style to make up for two lost decades. Two of his current projects, Memory Traces and The Edge of Vision, center on human experience and psychological emotions. The photographs include bold colors accompanied by striking distortion, light work, abstraction, and shadows. All these elements expose the human relationship with the unseen surroundings during transient moments.

“While my right serves only to provide peripheral vision - a third of my visual field is blurry when both eyes are open - the brain is able to correct…During the intervening years, colors were dull and insipid, but when my sight was restored, I was struck by the vividness and beauty of the colorful world, and I suspect some time will pass before I return to black-and-white photography, if ever,” he says.

Vision is what guides us forward figuratively and physically, and Marks has used his inner vision as a guide within a bigger purpose for what he will present in his work. Psychologically, we can view photography as a symbol for connectivity to a reality that can include people, places, things or feelings. Marks focuses on life on pause in an otherworldly manner. His work makes us forget about the concept of time in order to capture the essence of a feeling – one that tends to be heightened with eye-catching colors hovering around in a dreamlike state.

Though his photographs capture people, the focus remains on the physical surroundings and how these affect our emotional perception. The colors seem to engulf the individuals who play a secondary role to the feeling being revealed through the photograph. It is also thanks to the blurred lines that the viewers are able to capture the moment and generate a psychological response to the visuals instead of focusing solely on specific elements.

He explains, “My new pictures were far more psychological than my old, and the effects of the physiological changes, combined with my studies in 20th century art and modernism, have led me to my two current projects: Memory Traces and Edge of Vision. Both can be characterized by their increasing abstraction and emphasis on camera-work, by which I mean my investigations in the potential for using the camera as a means of investigating deep psychological and emotional truths and my personal expressionistic perception of the world.”

Marks’ photographs show that there’s something more to the bright colors being presented. What the visuals evoke within us beyond the aesthetic beauty is what stays in our minds. That’s what makes us human, our attachment to real life memories and how they make us feel. While the past is gone, it is the emotions that pull us back to those moments that over time become embedded in our lives as part of who we are.

For more on the artist’s work, visit his site. All photos courtesy of Steven Marks.

Today’s poem is inspired by Steven’s ability to portray another world within our surroundings in his photographs:

A Dream Within a Dream

BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow —

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand —

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep — while I weep!

O God! Can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I not save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream?

Nothing Green Can Stay, or Can It?

April 11, 2019 in Art, Contemporary art, Sculpture

Figure 1. “Soul of a Tributary” by Veronica Szalus.

Physical transitions happen constantly in nature and while these vary in speed, it is the process of transformation that matters most. Northern Virginia artist Veronica Szalus explores themes of inevitable environmental transitions through complex sculptures. Her sculptures consist of synthetic and natural materials, which encourage viewers to study how their environments never surrender to permanence. Szalus’ work helps us internalize what each passing minute signifies for existence within every transitional shift.

Szalus’ installations are part of environmental art, a movement that began around the 1960s. Today, renowned contemporary artists in the genre include Nils Udo, Agnes Denes, and Andy Goldsworthy. This movement invites us to view organisms beyond their present physical status and pushes us to look into future possibilities of change as a continuation of the natural cycle. Since much of the artwork is produced to be site-specific, it creates a sense of awareness about current surroundings and/or issues regarding the impact of our interactions with our planet’s natural resources.

“Many of my installations use a combination of materials such as grass reed, bamboo, tree branches and vines. Beyond this I often consider a larger more pressing question --the constant transition found at the intersections of materials (manufactured or even natural) with environmental factors and what that means to the viewer and his/her world. There is a constant interplay between materials and the environmental factors of light, movement, sound and time that gives pause to contemplate the impermanence of the world around us and the existence that form us,” explains Szalus.

Figure 2. The artist at work in the studio.

In her work, organic and non-organic materials come together to possibly create something new. For instance, by shifting positions, deteriorating of materials, what may grow or die if environmental factors interfere, among other scenarios. An important factor to consider when observing Szalus’ installations is that time always remains the constant variable of the natural cycle for every living organism.

There’s a give and take that occurs when dealing with nature. It is these interactions that cause the potential for change, and the impact of such can only be witnessed through the progression of time. The pieces Szalus creates can also reflect how interior and exterior elements serve as agents of change in that environment. In other words, they instill an open perspective for how our relationship with our surroundings can impact our lives in the long run.

Figure 3. “Tilted Soul” by Veronica Szalus.

She explains, “I am continuously developing my work through volume and scale, new forms, and exploration of materials. I am inspired by many things including shifts in light, flexibility, tension and movement, color, and especially color that is the result of oxidation. I am currently developing concepts that incorporate water and the observation of oxidation, flexibility and durability in large assembled pieces, and using mundane objects to activate light.”

Szalus is currently working on an installation concept for the lobby of a performing arts center and an upcoming duo exhibition at Studio Gallery in Washington D.C., where she’ll be collaborating with Pam Frederick.

Explore more of Veronica Szalus’ work here.