QA_oasis

	RECYCLE, REUSE, CREATE Q&A (June 2006) Inside the artist studio as they prepare for Chicago installation Interview by Lynn del Sol
EXHIBITION PROGRAM ARTIST WAREHOUSE ART SPEAK MEDIA ROOM ABOUT CONTACT SUBMISSIONS LINKS HOME CTS (917)826.5550 mailing address 635 Humboldt Street #3L Brooklyn NY 11222 info@creativethriftshop.com		We've had this studio for a little over ten years now. We feel lucky about finding this place when we did. Even though we're not crazy about Miami, we love the neighborhood. Living here has been very inspirational to our work. We say living here because although we sleep somewhere else, this is where we've spent the bulk of our lives in Miami and we have spent the night quite often. When we first moved in, back in 96,the neighborhood, although it is full of honest hard working families was probably one of the seediest places we had ever seen. Complete with prostitutes, crack addicts, dope pushers and transients. It was common			notice. We've recently made it into some very important collections and in the ast two years we've shown mainly outside of Miami to very positive reactions from international audiences. Our work seems to grow on people and evoke a personal connection with the viewer. Our work has even been described as "art for art's sake", and wow, what a compliment that is. Honestly, we feel it is more important to create the work than to sell it, even though we all have to eat. It is highly unlikely for a person to live with one of our large scale installations. Does that mean its not worth making them? Those who know us are aware of our	businesses near our studio. It was built on two levels of the exterior of the center. The piece measured approximately H: 45 X W: 65 X D: 30 feet. In a way, it was like an abstract landscape bursting with colors and textures, with hills and valleys and two story cascades of garments that blew inthe wind. We guess you could say that it was also our first piece that interacted with nature. It took about six months for us to collect enough clothes to build the piece and the on site construction took about three weeks. CTS: Can you see an evolution in your	work from your first projects to the present day? Of course. What excites us the most is the constant experimenting that occurs when composing work using found objects. When your next series is dictated by what ever you may find, it opens so many possibilities and you learn quickly to be more open to change. CTS: Currently you both are working on the an installation project for the Chicago Cultural Center for a June exhibition. Can you describe to us how the two of you go about planning and executing such an elaborate exhibition.	The basic theory of the Oasis installation revolves around the fact that everything comes from and returns to the earth in its life cycle. We plan our work very casually. Often the concept occur through our daily dialogue and our visual experience. All of our large scale site specific installations to date take from 6 to 12 months to produce. We collected clothing for Oasis on and off for 9 months. Some days are better than others. For the Chicago Cultural Center we submitted 5 conceptual drawings, OASIS was the one selected for this venue. The staff has been very	supportive and conscious of the involved nature of Oasis, providing us with the attention to detail which is imperative for a successful installation. EDEN, a thematically related installation created for the exhibition, Between art and life: from Joseph Cornell to Gabriel Orozco, curated by Peter Boswell for the Miami Art Museum was very helpful in allowing us to focus on how to redesign the piece without using skeleton frames for the trees. The new tree construction relies on knotted ropes that are suspended from the ceiling while the heavier garments are stacked creating the base trunk. The illusion is massive	needs without qualms. They are hard working individuals who appreciate our respect and creativity. We have always shown them what we do with the clothing, always bringing a smile to their face along with another print for their wall. CTS: Does the notion of influence ever appear in your relationship? We do what we do because of each other. Respect and interest in each others vision is what holds it all together. CTS: I need to ask, who comes up with the ideas, who comes up with the game	plan, how to attack a particular project, who does the sewing, the actual install, is the work and idea process more or less divided equally or is there one of you that is more dominate than the other? We can do what the other does and often alternate on a piece, however, we both have our strong points. We do not differentiate who does what. By the time we're done our input is so intertwined that if enough time has passed after a project is finished, it becomes a bit vague, even to us. Sometimes we even think the work makes itself. CTS: Mainly you work with found	items... clothing mainly in the last five-six years, why has this medium become your such a staple in your work? IT'S FREE! It has been easily accessible to us and we are inspired by the wide range of colors and textures along with the energy found within each garment. It is as if we have a large supporting cast. We want to make people think about and relate to different aspects of life. When viewing art, people are generally dismissive. The initial reaction is very important and a determining factor, like a first impression. It is because of this that we try to keep our work as fresh and unconventional as
Artists Guerra de la Paz manages each and every time to stun you. To grab your eye and swirl it around in texture and color. To push your senses to it's capacity. To intrude into your imagination and occasionally linger on into your dreams. Today we catch up with the imfamous dual to get a little behind the sceen action as they prepare for to take off to Chi town for thier next big installation entitled Oasis CTS: Well hello boys! You studio is something short of amazing! This is just tremendous! Can you tell us a bit about it?	to hear gunshots at a nightly basis. We were even shot at once (lucky for us that they missed). We remember the look on people's faces when we'd tell them where our studio was. The common question then was, "Why?". But both of us have always had an attraction to the places where most people would want to avoid yet some of the best comments we've ever received have come from the locals. It was exciting and colorful, it still is. Its been cleaned up now, more artists have moved in and almost all the old characters are gone but you still see an occasional rooster hanging out in the intersection and listen to the repetitive medleys of dueling ice cream trucks, one of which only sells fried chicken.	We have a nice size warehouse, about 1800 sq. ft and 14 ft ceilings and a little back yard that became a garden through the years. It was once a transmission shop and we've kept it's industrial feel. The contents in the studio are what constantly changes. As projects come and go, things are always being rearranged. We would have to go into too much detail to even start describing it. We can say that even though some of it has moved on, there is a large variety of work in which you can trace our history of making art together in this space and get a good idea of what we're about. CTS: Your work seems to fall into the category of installation art and	sculpture, what do you feel viewers reaction is to such an art form today? Visual impact and thought provoking work seems to stand out in a world where pretty and academia rules, especially in Miami. The art scene here is dull and predictable, a bit of more same old all the time except maybe for the first week of December (but that's all imported). We try to set ourselves as far apart from the standard. It has resulted in complete alienation from just about every gallery, museum and collector here. What's interesting and exciting though, is that the rest of the world is taking	diversity. We don¹t limit ourselves with medium or scale. Many of our paintings, drawings , photographs, etc. have found a good home. CTS: What is the largest installation / sculpture you both have created? OVERFLOW 2002 @ the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center in Liberty City, Miami, FL. It was our first and largest installation to date and was partially funded by Miami-Dade Dept. of Parks and Recreation. An outdoor site specific sculptural installation that resembled the huge piles of clothes we'd see in the dumpsters and floors of the export				yet airy this installation introduces the architecture of the gallery as part of the work with painted wall s and ceilings reinforcing the scene along with a soundtrack of nature recorded for us in a Long Island Park by Diego del Sol. CTS: So than it would be safe to say that your exhibitions are really a hands on affair. YES! We have the calluses and backaches to prove it. CTS: Do you feel a synergy of creative energy when undertaking such a mammoth project? Yes, that energy is most vital to creation. We have had the pleasure of working with numerous curators, photographers installers and everyone	in between. As in life you have the highly professional , sincere individuals who believe in the final outcome and those whose egos precedes them. We will not work with egocentric or self centered individuals a second time. Their vibe is not conducive to a successful outcome. Unfortunately its all trial and error since you cannot judge a book by its cover. As time passes, we have acquired a solid core of visionary individuals who's expertise and support have definitely strengthened our endeavors, opening the doors to creative environment where the possibilities are endless. Even though we have collected clothing from other sources, there is one in particular which we frequent that exports to Haiti. They are most reliable and simpatico with what we do with their refuse and accommodate to our		possible. With our clothing installations we have witnessed audiences look at a piece as a whole but then focus on a garment that they swear they owned, creating a unique and very personal experience for the viewer. Comments we have received have ranged from, Wow and Oh my gosh to, So that's where all the clothes I donated went. CTS: With 24 hour news cycles, reality television, and the internet, do you think art has the same ability to talk to people it had in the past? This one can be answered with that cliché that asks, Does life imitate art or does art imitate life? Perhaps, that line has been blurred even further but it's	never really been defined. We don't recall ever thinking of Velasquez while watching, The Simple Life or comparing Paris and Nicole to, Las Meninas, even though the parallels between them are still there (So guess we just did). Realism or Reality, both offer a voyeuristic glance into the world of the privileged elite. Some of the recent news headlines have inspired certain topics to appear within the realm of art, creating a general consensus where artists and audiences alike can relate to current events at a much more rapid rate than in the past and at a global scale, but this is nothing new. Artwork depicting a battle scene, a	disaster, a new monarch, etc..., has been common place since ancient times. Maybe now, a more sophisticated society has evolved allowing for a more conceptual approach. Science and art have merged many times in many ways throughout history as well. In the communication age the internet is a perfect example of that. Ultimately, art only talks to those who are willing to listen.

RECYCLE, REUSE, CREATE
Q&A (June 2006) Inside the artist studio as they prepare for Chicago installation
Interview by Lynn del Sol

EXHIBITION PROGRAM

ARTIST WAREHOUSE

ART SPEAK

MEDIA ROOM

ABOUT

CONTACT

SUBMISSIONS

LINKS

HOME

CTS
(917)826.5550

mailing address
635 Humboldt Street #3L
Brooklyn NY 11222
info@creativethriftshop.com

We've had this studio for a little over ten years now. We feel lucky about finding this place when we did. Even though we're not crazy about Miami, we love the neighborhood. Living here has been very inspirational to our work. We say living here because although we sleep somewhere else, this is where we've spent the bulk of our lives in Miami and we have spent the night quite often.

When we first moved in, back in 96,the neighborhood, although it is full of honest hard working families was probably one of the seediest places we had ever seen. Complete with prostitutes, crack addicts, dope pushers and transients. It was common

notice. We've recently made it into some very important collections and in the ast two years we've shown mainly outside of Miami to very positive reactions from international audiences. Our work seems to grow on people and evoke a personal connection with the viewer. Our work has even been described as "art for art's sake", and wow, what a compliment that is.

Honestly, we feel it is more important to create the work than to sell it, even though we all have to eat. It is highly unlikely for a person to live with one of our large scale installations. Does that mean its not worth making them? Those who know us are aware of our

businesses near our studio. It was built on two levels of the exterior of the center. The piece measured approximately H: 45 X W: 65 X D: 30 feet.

In a way, it was like an abstract landscape bursting with colors and textures, with hills and valleys and two story cascades of garments that blew inthe wind. We guess you could say that it was also our first piece that interacted with nature. It took about six months for us to collect enough clothes to build the piece and the on site construction took about three weeks.

CTS: Can you see an evolution in your

work from your first projects to the present day?

Of course. What excites us the most is the constant experimenting that occurs when composing work using found objects. When your next series is dictated by what ever you may find, it opens so many possibilities and you learn quickly to be more open to change.

CTS: Currently you both are working on the an installation project for the Chicago Cultural Center for a June exhibition. Can you describe to us how the two of you go about planning and executing such an elaborate exhibition.

The basic theory of the Oasis installation revolves around the fact that everything comes from and returns to the earth in its life cycle. We plan our work very casually. Often the concept occur through our daily dialogue and our visual experience. All of our large scale site specific installations to date take from 6 to 12 months to produce. We collected clothing for Oasis on and off for 9 months. Some days are better than others.

For the Chicago Cultural Center we submitted 5 conceptual drawings, OASIS was the one selected for this venue. The staff has been very

supportive and conscious of the involved nature of Oasis, providing us with the attention to detail which is imperative for a successful installation.

EDEN, a thematically related installation created for the exhibition, Between art and life: from Joseph Cornell to Gabriel Orozco, curated by Peter Boswell for the Miami Art Museum was very helpful in allowing us to focus on how to redesign the piece without using skeleton frames for the trees. The new tree construction relies on knotted ropes that are suspended from the ceiling while the heavier garments are stacked creating the base trunk. The illusion is massive

needs without qualms. They are hard working individuals who appreciate our respect and creativity. We have always shown them what we do with the clothing, always bringing a smile to their face along with another print for their wall.

CTS: Does the notion of influence ever appear in your relationship?

We do what we do because of each other. Respect and interest in each others vision is what holds it all together.

CTS: I need to ask, who comes up with the ideas, who comes up with the game

plan, how to attack a particular project, who does the sewing, the actual install, is the work and idea process more or less divided equally or is there one of you that is more dominate than the other?

We can do what the other does and often alternate on a piece, however, we both have our strong points. We do not differentiate who does what. By the time we're done our input is so intertwined that if enough time has passed after a project is finished, it becomes a bit vague, even to us. Sometimes we even think the work makes itself.

CTS: Mainly you work with found

items... clothing mainly in the last five-six years, why has this medium become your such a staple in your work?

IT'S FREE! It has been easily accessible to us and we are inspired by the wide range of colors and textures along with the energy found within each garment. It is as if we have a large supporting cast. We want to make people think about and relate to different aspects of life. When viewing art, people are generally dismissive. The initial reaction is very important and a determining factor, like a first impression. It is because of this that we try to keep our work as fresh and unconventional as

Artists Guerra de la Paz manages each and every time to stun you. To grab your eye and swirl it around in texture and color. To push your senses to it's capacity. To intrude into your imagination and occasionally linger on into your dreams.

Today we catch up with the imfamous dual to get a little behind the sceen action as they prepare for to take off to Chi town for thier next big installation entitled Oasis

CTS: Well hello boys! You studio is something short of amazing! This is just tremendous! Can you tell us a bit about it?

to hear gunshots at a nightly basis. We were even shot at once (lucky for us that they missed). We remember the look on people's faces when we'd tell them where our studio was. The common question then was, "Why?". But both of us have always had an attraction to the places where most people would want to avoid yet some of the best comments we've ever received have come from the locals. It was exciting and colorful, it still is. Its been cleaned up now, more artists have moved in and almost all the old characters are gone but you still see an occasional rooster hanging out in the intersection and listen to the repetitive medleys of dueling ice cream trucks, one of which only sells fried chicken.

We have a nice size warehouse, about 1800 sq. ft and 14 ft ceilings and a little back yard that became a garden through the years. It was once a transmission shop and we've kept it's industrial feel. The contents in the studio are what constantly changes. As projects come and go, things are always being rearranged. We would have to go into too much detail to even start describing it. We can say that even though some of it has moved on, there is a large variety of work in which you can trace our history of making art together in this space and get a good idea of what we're about.

CTS: Your work seems to fall into the category of installation art and

sculpture, what do you feel viewers reaction is to such an art form today?

Visual impact and thought provoking work seems to stand out in a world where pretty and academia rules, especially in Miami. The art scene here is dull and predictable, a bit of more same old all the time except maybe for the first week of December (but that's all imported). We try to set ourselves as far apart from the standard. It has resulted in complete alienation from just about every gallery, museum and collector here.

What's interesting and exciting though, is that the rest of the world is taking

diversity. We don¹t limit ourselves with medium or scale. Many of our paintings, drawings , photographs, etc. have found a good home.

CTS: What is the largest installation / sculpture you both have created?

OVERFLOW 2002 @ the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center in Liberty City, Miami, FL. It was our first and largest installation to date and was partially funded by Miami-Dade Dept. of Parks and Recreation.

An outdoor site specific sculptural installation that resembled the huge piles of clothes we'd see in the dumpsters and floors of the export

yet airy this installation introduces the architecture of the gallery as part of the work with painted wall s and ceilings reinforcing the scene along with a soundtrack of nature recorded for us in a Long Island Park by Diego del Sol.

CTS: So than it would be safe to say that your exhibitions are really a hands on affair.

YES! We have the calluses and backaches to prove it.

CTS: Do you feel a synergy of creative energy when undertaking such a mammoth project?

Yes, that energy is most vital to creation. We have had the pleasure of working with numerous curators, photographers installers and everyone

in between. As in life you have the highly professional , sincere individuals who believe in the final outcome and those whose egos precedes them. We will not work with egocentric or self centered individuals a second time. Their vibe is not conducive to a successful outcome. Unfortunately its all trial and error since you cannot judge a book by its cover. As time passes, we have acquired a solid core of visionary individuals who's expertise and support have definitely strengthened our endeavors, opening the doors to creative environment where the possibilities are endless.

Even though we have collected clothing from other sources, there is one in particular which we frequent that exports to Haiti. They are most reliable and simpatico with what we do with their refuse and accommodate to our

possible. With our clothing installations we have witnessed audiences look at a piece as a whole but then focus on a garment that they swear they owned, creating a unique and very personal experience for the viewer. Comments we have received have ranged from, Wow and Oh my gosh to, So that's where all the clothes I donated went.

CTS: With 24 hour news cycles, reality television, and the internet, do you think art has the same ability to talk to people it had in the past?

This one can be answered with that cliché that asks, Does life imitate art or does art imitate life? Perhaps, that line has been blurred even further but it's

never really been defined. We don't recall ever thinking of Velasquez while watching, The Simple Life or comparing Paris and Nicole to, Las Meninas, even though the parallels between them are still there (So guess we just did). Realism or Reality, both offer a voyeuristic glance into the world of the privileged elite.

Some of the recent news headlines have inspired certain topics to appear within the realm of art, creating a general consensus where artists and audiences alike can relate to current events at a much more rapid rate than in the past and at a global scale, but this is nothing new. Artwork depicting a battle scene, a

disaster, a new monarch, etc..., has been common place since ancient times. Maybe now, a more sophisticated society has evolved allowing for a more conceptual approach.

Science and art have merged many times in many ways throughout history as well. In the communication age the internet is a perfect example of that.
Ultimately, art only talks to those who are willing to listen.