Mantras for a Sustainable Art Practice (Vol. III)
/It’s been our pleasure to check in with five more artists for this series, asking them to share the mantras that have helped guide their work ethic during critical moments and offer snapshots of what they’ve been working on in their studios. While the following mantras were submitted some time ago, the sentiments artists share about making work during a global pandemic still ring true as we near the close of another abnormal year. Perhaps these insights from Martin Mazorra, Alexandra Riesco, John DeFaro, Cara Lynch, and Leah Roobin will prove useful for those of us struggling to find a direction and set intentions in our practice.
MARTIN MAZORRA
“This is stupid. I need a new Mantra.”
www.martinmazorra.net
I spend a lot of time in this room. It is 8 x 10 feet. It has my computer, books, 2/3rds type cabnet, flatfiles, Pearl treadle press, and multpurpose desk.
These are standing forms for some business cards that I can print on the Pearl.
Sewing is a good way for me to work at home, but still make large projects.
Linocut oyster illustrations for a book project that will produced by Prototype Press later this year.
Preparatory drawings/plans for my series of color sideshow prints.
ALEXANDRA RIESCO
“Don’t be precious”
This is something my figure drawing professor used to say to loosen us up and get us to just put marks down on paper without worrying about the result. It's always been a good reminder for me not to let fear of making mistakes stifle my practice; it's so easy to get hung up on potentially messing up a piece that you lose perspective of the whole and stop taking risks. In some ways, working in isolation was a welcome time to experiment and try new techniques without expectations. Most of my work is in intaglio printmaking, and I find allowing myself the freedom to explore without worrying about the final product is so important to creating anything worthwhile.
www.alexandrariesco.com
At the beginning of quarantine I was sharing a small apartment and working almost entirely at this desk. I had just started trying out relief techniques and this period gave me time to explore linocut and printing by hand, since I didn't have access to a press or any etching equipment.
I would often lay prints out on the bed while working and then move them to my dresser to dry.
I also continued carving and printing blocks.
Working on a larger print on the floor.
In the summer, I moved into a larger space and started using a spare bedroom as my studio. I did some research, set up a saline sulfate bath for etching zinc, and started experimenting with that as well as other non-toxic etching methods.
JOHN DEFARO
“Love and Compassion”
In 1997, I started a project called Love Paintings. The small paintings, drawings and sculptural objects all included a heart symbol set against colorful, patterned backgrounds. It was a moderately successful project for four years. Now, some 20 years later myself and the world is in crisis, and the need to demonstrate love is needed more than ever. During the month of April 2020, I decided to reignite Love Paintings.
www.johndefaro.com
John DeFaro – Art Projects. Applying pencil, ink and watercolor to a Moving Heart print. Home office studio In North Miami, Florida. The original project logo, recently dubbed “Moving Heart” in 2020, has a flowing, organic interior space, while still retaining the emotional, commercial representation of love. The earlier concept contextualized the visual culture of kitsch and corniness. A meditation on the clichéd images of love—which, oversimplified and repeated ad nauseum in American culture, can still bring people pleasure.
Moving Heart series. Works on paper. 2020. Left: In My Pink Garden. Right: Forest Kisses. Pencil, ink and acrylic on fine art paper.
Moving Heart ‘Visit to Love Forest’ (detail) 2020 pencil and ink on paper. This body of work is about the psychology of showy keepsakes and graphics, and why people seek them out as representations of our deepest, most profound emotions during times of struggle.
With this new body of work, I’m exploring the role of pop art in today’s socio-economic context. The name Moving Heart was inspired in part by my relationship with my mother, who I loved very much. I also see “Moving Heart” as a testament to the commercial creative practices of many contemporary artists, who often must take on such work in order to survive in capitalist society.
CARA LYNCH
“Make things that make you happy. Don’t judge yourself for not being as productive as usual.”
www.caralynchstudio.com
Me in my current studio in Ridgewood, NY. The pandemic has taken some of the pressure off of me in a way. I struggle with not being as motivated as usual, but I also am making things that I really want to make most of the time. I’m using cheaper materials and playing with making installations that include older work. I have been spending more time thinking and reading. I’m not in the studio physically as often as I used to be because of the pandemic but I get there when I can and try to make work that makes me happy.
Stills of the documentation I made of my installation “I’ll Be Back Someday.” Because so much of what I am looking at is online, I am also thinking about video a lot more than I used to because it can exist on these platforms.
“Relax and Unwind.” I have been spending time making smaller sculptures. I have been working more at home over the last few months, and I started casting metal using a barbeque as a furnace.
I have made a lot of small drawings and paintings over the course of the pandemic because it was a way to keep making work while I am spending more time at home.
LEAH ROOBIN
“Keep on trucking along”
Its easy to get put down when any plan you had for a year gets turned on its head by something you have absolutely no control over. The future is never certain, especially right now, but reminding myself to put one foot in front of the other and keep going has given me a sense of control.
ww.leahroobin.com
I moved during the pandemic from a house with a screened in porch to a place without one. This is the set up I have in my new place, the next 3 photos are from the house with the porch.
In the beginning of the pandemic I burned a screen but didn’t really think the rest through. So here we have some trash bags and scotch tape because most stores weren’t open by the time I wanted to print.
During the stay at home order I played around with screen printing on some cyanotypes I had previously made.
Screenprints on Cyanotypes
This became my mantra for 2020 and now continuing into 2021. I letterpress printed it for some 4x6in postcards.
I’d like to thank Martin, Alexandra, John, Cara and Leah for generously inviting us into their studios. If you’re an artist who would like to share your mantra and some studio updates with us, please email sammi@isprojectsfl.com to be featured in this series.
Make work and be well,
Sammi