The opening of the exhibit was on November 1st. It was a great evening with a lot of people showing up and with beautiful artwork hanging from the walls. I feel very fortunate to be included in this group exhibit with a lot of different artists. If you are interested the artwork will be on exhibition at La Peña for a few weeks at Congress Avenue and 3rd street.
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Ultimamente he estado trabajando en algo distinto a lo que venía haciendo, los dibujos utilizan una técnica similar a la de otras piezas que había hecho antes (ink markers y art markers). La idea de estas construcciones nació de la observación de como la ciudad crece y crece hacia arriba, esta conglomeración muchas veces rectangular y de superficies lizas, metálicas, de vidrio, etc. transmiten una sensación de frialdad. Mi idea era ver que pasaba si estas estructuras crecieran de manera más orgánica, inspirado por los nidos de avispas, casas en los arboles, nidos de golondrina y por una visita que hicimos hace poco a los pueblos enclavados en los acantilados en Arizona, surge una visión más lúdica del conglomerado multi-habitacional. Este es un trabajo en desarrollo, por lo cual no sé si he llegado al resultado final. He estado experimentando con técnicas y elementos dentro de los dibujos, la mayoría de los dibujos solo presentan las estructuras - sin habitantes. He probado algunas con gente en miniatura y también estoy tratando de construir las piezas en 3D, a través de la utilización de papel maché. Sea cual sea el resultado seguiré compartiendo mi progreso aquí, y si alguien tiene ideas o sugerencias, son siempre bienvenidas a energyacreativa@gmail.com When I started painting and making my drawings I never thought I was going to hang them in a public place for everybody to see, but with the encouragement of my family and friends I went ahead and started planning an exhibition. Thanks to a very good friend, Andrés Salvador. I was able to display my artwork at his coffee shop - Fair Bean Coffee in South Austin - where the pieces look very nice on the colorful walls of the shop.
On September 12th we had a nice get together and it was a great way to start this new chapter of my creative life, I hope to continue doing art and sharing with you the process, ideas and results. If you have the chance to visit Fair Bean, please do it and let me know what you think. About Tellers of Tales This series of works started by chance, after a lucky find at the “books for sale” in my neighborhood library. Tellers of Tales was a book published in 1939 in New York by Doubleday, Doran & Company, the book is a selection of 100 short stories and was selected by William Somerset Maugham. The pages of the book have a double functionality as the medium and also as the inspiration for the art. Usually I use the title of the story plus some highligthed words to create a character or image. Also, I try to stay away from the original story itself because I don’t want the artwork to become an illustration of the tale. This way my intention is to create a more ambiguos visual narration. In these pieces you will find little phrases or connected words. In my personal experience there are some powerful phrases that have a “special” sound or images, such as “There were twenty-six of us, twenty-six living machines” or “like a knife in my throat.” Fair Bean Coffee: www.fairbeancoffee.com Fernando's Facebook page: facebook.com/fernando.munoz.art I just came back from Chile, I was visiting my family and decided to take a printmaking class. The experience was great and I had the opportunity to meet a few artists at Taller de Artes Visuales (TAV) which is managed by the friends of "La Pica del Grabado" - I did some Xylography, Reduction Woodcut and Chine Colle with my friends Marco Durán and Campana. Also I was able to chat with a very experienced printmaker, Mr. Carlos Donaire.
The workshop was great and the setup very nice and old school, it was great to be able to use the presses and the equipment at TAV, we managed the cold winter in Santiago with a small space-heater and the "mates" (a tipical hot drink) served by Campana. I just finished a couple of new pieces, they are called "Twenty-Six and One" and "The Knives". For the first one I just went with a loose interpretation of the short story title, I really liked that phrase: "There were twenty-six of us -- Twenty-six living machines" -
"The Knives" has a different origin, I had a different idea for this one, but I stumbled upon a vintage photograph of a knife thrower, I really liked the picture and after some research I found the name of the person, it was a famous artist from the 19th century called Sig Arcaris. Here are a couple of pictures that inspired this piece: I have been using pages from this magnificent book called "Teller of Tales", the book was published in 1939 by Double Day, Doran and Company, Inc. and is a collection of 100 short stories selected by W. Somerset Maugham. "The Necklace" was inspired by the first page of the story by the same name from Guy de Maupassant and is representing a grackle one of our most loud residents of Austin, Texas, which has no connection to the original story. As a technique I used archival quality line markers, combined with art markers and acrylic paint. During the process I highlighted some words that caught my eye: Family, Of, Natural, Beauty... I've been drawing since I can remember, this was due to my dad who always was bringing paper and pencils home, I specially remember drawing in those old computer sheets the ones with the holes in both sides and the green and white lines. When I was in College I took a couple of informal classes on drawing and sculpture, but was just recently that I decided to take a class on oil painting. I enrolled in one of the informal workshops at the Daugherty Art Center in Austin, and since then I have been discovering not just art, but ultimately myself. I have to thanks my family and friends for all the encouraging words and positive feedback, and specially to my artists friends that have been giving me advice specially in the technical aspects: Hampton Rodriguez, an amazing artist from Portland, Oregon; Rodrigo Alvarez, a chilean painter from D.C. and Sonia Karimi, a friend and artist from Austin-Texas. I feel that my style has been evolving since I started and today I can say that there are two themes that attract me; one is the series called "Soñadoras (es)" (Dreamers) that is inspired in characters and people that I have met personally or by word of mouth, some of these are part of the South-American folklore. The second series is the one called "Constructions" which is more surreal, in this series sometimes you will be able to find elements from literature. Lastly in my experimentation with techniques and mediums I been working on Mix Media pieces, this ones are part of a third an new series called "Tales" but basically following the two styles that I have mention before "Soñadoras" and "Constructions". Thank you, and please your comments or critique are always welcomed. Fernando Muñoz |
My StoryI was born in Chile in the late 70s, so growing up in the 80s, I spent my days immersed in rock music, movies, books, and endless doodling. Archives
November 2023
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