A Conversation WIth Gabi Fventes

Gabi Fventes, an artist from Mexico,currently residing in New York City, creates illustrations, paintings, and dolls as a means of artistic expression. Fventes is currently participating in an artist residence program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her pieces are personal narratives made up of line work that create beautiful, lyrical textures and patterns.


Can you tell us a little about your artwork and your artistic process?
 

It´s always a different process, sometimes I am influenced by a detail that I see in my environment, or a story I am thinking about. When I´m in the process of painting or drawing however, the idea can  change completely. With the dolls the process is opposite. I start with no idea, instead I start with the materials and let them dictate what the piece becomes. The materials become the story of the piece.

Gabi Fventes

What inspires you as an artist? Why do you create art?

I´m inspired by a lot of things: good things, bad things, problems, solutions, memories, my sister, other cultures, 90`s cartoons.  Sometimes it is a personal story and other times it is a collective of stories around me. I create art because it´s  how I communicate with people. It is the best way to say what I think and what I need. 

What types of themes, ideas, or concepts do you explore within in your artwork?

I explore memories and loneliness. I like the ways that people solve problems. The ways we can take something horrible and painful and turn it into something beautiful. 

Are there any artists that inspire you ? If so who would they be and why?

Yes - all the "new" wave of lowbrow artists, the women from surrealism like Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo,  my artist friends and my boyfriend. 

For you, what do you think the role of the artist is?

I think that we have a lot of power to change the way people see the world, whether it is using recycled materials to create something new out of something old or the way artists can focus on an event or an injustice to make that issue visible and to affect a change. Art is power.  

What’s the best and worst part about being an artist ? As an artist, how do you stay motivated?

The best part is the people you get to know in this career, the experiences and the freedom of do[ing] whatever you want. The worst is sometimes it is hard to stay motivated and keep doing what makes you happy. Being a full time artist is a real job, with real stress and real labor. But it´s great, even with the stress I know I am doing what I love.

And finally, what advice would you give to other artists?

Never give up, try as hard as you can to get the things you want. Send your work everywhere, even if they don´t ask you. Often after being rejected the first time, I was called back within a few years. Take it seriously, but not too much - if you take it too seriously it can hurt you and your work. And this is going to sound cheesy, but always do what your heart says. 

Fventes will have her artwork on display at the 2011 Summer Resisdency Program Open Studios, Aug 4 from 6 - 9 p.m. located at the School of Visual Arts. For more information about Fventes' artwork you can visit her website and Facebook page for more details.


All photography provided by Gabi Fventes.