Interview with Adriana Salinas
Have you made exhibitions? In case you did, which ones, where and how this was for you?
I have participated in cultural events, such as performance workshops, artistic demonstrations in open spaces, together with aboriginal ethnicities from my country and with colleagues; it has given me the chance to research deeply the possibilities when it comes to the development of an art language. One of those experiences was with Warao, the ethnical group from the Delta of Orinoco in my country; they would emigrate due to the ecocide committed against them in the delta. They dug their water canals, then the salty sea would enter where before the river was, the fishes disappeared and they couldn’t use the plantains anymore. Women and children would lose contact with earth and men quit fishing and they left the air they used to breath from the pile dwelling.
So they decided to go and collect under the sun of cities like Barcelona, Caracas, Maracay not fruits but coins, with the looks of louche behind the windscreens and air condition. That day they didn’t collect, that day we all danced under the sky, we were taught to sing and to thank for the gifts of earth and sea. It was a complete community of the shaman, of the woman priest, the inheritor, the princess, of everybody. I painted the whole square, the proposal was named “Un espacio Warao” (“A Warao place”), I painted for them the square as a reminder of “the day of the native Americans resistance” (“el día de la resistencia Indígena”), (here at the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, it is celebrated on the 12th October, even thou it should have been celebrated the 13th). It just was an awesome experience, first of all, I had to clean the place up, which one was taken by people who live on the street, drunken people and can collectors; then I painted it fully, with brooms as pencils, colors made of organic ingredients, like earth and lime scale. It was tiring but unforgettable. I would also like to approach the opportunity to make a reference to some my paintings that have been stolen by friends from my work shop, and then I realized they are exhibited in galleries or museums, it is just funny for me.
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In my opinion the museums are not well focused. I proposed for my practices “El museo no es un mausoleo” (“The museum is not a mausoleum”), I think we had really fun. There were formed spaces of energy on the visual proposal. Digital technology is new for me, so Ivan was in charge of turning my colors into vivid little spots, he is the technocrat and I’m the analog one, which is a wonderful magic. There are a lot of exposal spaces in my country, well at least we do see them, it is just a matter of observation you just have to be alive and look. The streets, the ground, trees, walls, these things are for me daily supporters which must be taken seriously and with respect. The collective creative possibilities are part of the artist as a creative being in space and time, I believe in that commitment to create art works.
I’m interested in mural painting cause of its vigor, esthetical impact and its social trend. I had the opportunity of working on the elaboration of a mural painting which narrates the history and meaning of our national flag. I was in charge of reproducing part of the artwork “Miranda en la Carraca” (“Miranda on the boat”), from the master Michelena, its dimensions are 4 meters 6 meters high, and it is located on one of the outside doors of the Miraflores Museum. It was tiring to work that much aside of Miranda, beside the rigor of the master, in front of his excellence and talent at painting. The colleagues at this work were yokels ……..but that’s another story.
What made you choose the path of art? And the first steps on it?
I was born in a family of clowns; we were all predestinated to be outgoing, my grandmother, my mother, my father, my brother, my uncles and cousins, EVERYONE, lived in some way that we projected ourselves in an artistic way. Singing, drawing, playing theater, decorating, playing some instrument. Becoming an artist was not my own decision. I’m sure it was already planed and discussed this experiment of person I am; I’m also sure that who I’m now is about to turn into what it deserves to be. “That is a big thing” would say Maria Encarnación, my grandmother. There were years of classical ballet, contemporary dance and for fun I used to skate. It’s also important to tell you that I started to sing and play [an instrument] when I was 16, a lot of experiences, a lot of madness, a lot of rock and roll and guitar. Ivan says what happens to me is, that I had 6 years of kindergarten and that’s why I’m able to paint and cut things.
What have you gone through to get where you are now?
Hahahaaa…Well I think everything… happened to me, like everyone…. It is a daily fight against abysms….well the normal things, but always singing, cooking and painting, I mean dancing.
Has your art influenced the experiences you have lived since you were a child?
At home it was normal to have a poetical and singing exchange with several friends of my parents, who also were artists; I would love to tell you about my parent’s lives, they are the best. The first money I made on my own, was working as part of the team of clowns. The time I spent at the IUESAPAR [University of Plastic Arts Armando Reverón] was the key to play in the matrix of the color and shape. The first time I realized the volume of the moon. The birth of Gerónimo. The death of Diana. To get to know Iván. Imagine bro!
Your work is based on social problems. Would you explain to us which kind of social problems you want to express specifically trough you art?
The wishful look of a woman with her greenish face, botox lips and a tiny nose from her last surgery. The last insult of the neighbor to his wife while she is getting a shower and her red dyed hair appears on the floor. The last time we heard each other, convinced that it wasn’t our image we saw reflected in the mirror and we just let it go. The brother that brought two cement bags to the bathroom at his grandmother’s house. The one who doesn’t want to let go a love. The ones who study the old legacy. The ones who eat hot dogs. The ones who know that they will explode. The lonely ones. What we look for, what we wish, what we kill, that what is undercover. … We are pathologically organized, our societies are saturated therefore our bodies and perceptions is it as well, we try to communicate with each other and we only get to interpret each other in a deaf and voiceless way; there is a big human problem and we are lazy to think, an auto destructive cycle and to know this insolates us even more.
I’m convinced an artist must work together with his environment, communities, cities, little towns, etc. Light in brains and warmness in hearts. Martí was for the humanism and respected what was left on this planet. To work and ask your self is a good calling for the artist in the present time. Let’s talk to people who need what God left to us; because we are givers of quality of life and esthetical appreciation, it’s stupid not to do anything about it all together.
Has your musical project help your fine arts or has been the other way around? What are the main topics of your songs?
The process to develop a creative proposal is made trough different areas ad tendencies. Along these years I’ve learned how to determinate creative spaces and that fact has given me better results while I’m waiting for the muse. The Grua project is an amalgam of expressive needs in a multi format. It is a big demand; also the excellence must be a duty. Everything can be done, everything can be told, again.
Sometimes I sing paintings, sometimes it goes nothing out of it, there was the moment where I had to do pause my creative projects to get another goal done, for example the CD we are now working on, the recording, the graphic design are a mix between my analog esthetic and the super digital vision of Iván. So, both expressions cooperate together, help each other out. I keep myself busy all the time; I never stop drawing and making, I search even if I have to do it on my log book. The concerts mean a lot of practice time, and physical strength, there are songs specifically the ones which belong to out folklore that are really demanding, so you have to eat very well and study much more. Our project is a research; we try to keep the tradition and folklore in our songs. Now my songs are similar to my paintings, well I think so; my paintings talk about closed expressions, fighting for sovereignty’s shimmer on the conscience or total control of passions and spaces graveled on a pentagram, rhythm, surface and color. I sing for the sun, for Iván, for abysms, for the angels, the elemental ones, for the underworld, for nostalgia, for the fights, for children, for the grandparents, for the resistance, for the ones who are not angry.
Do music and painting bring you the same satisfaction?
One is air, the other one matter and color. I taught me how to talk in singing way and the image of my hands and my streak are from other times… It has been wonderful the way that music and painting work through me, but it wasn’t like this always. I had to be stricter and clearer with myself. I have a personal satisfaction; to try hard to get into the creative space being humble, so this way I’m able to have time for everything, even though sometimes I feel like I need more hours at the day, between breakfast and lunch. If someone is sad we just sing ad everything changes, when we see the beauty of the sunset and then we are at the same time preparing an auyama cream and we realized that adding to the cream milk and butter, the colors of beautiful flavored oranges come true, the more attenuated this orange gets the darker it is, like that sunset…. We are actually painting!... with god!, and thus we feed the people we love. The precious time in front of a painting or sculpture and how well the cleaned laundry smells…. what a wonder, art can be everything. The applause is a trap; the satisfaction comes together with plenitude, I feel satisfied working, very, very much.
What has been the hardest and the greatest circumstances you’ve been through the way of art? Have you ever had a crisis when it comes to art?
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The hardest….
There have been difficult situations. The egos, envies, the disingenuous lovelessness, the silence, laziness, violence, the whispers, passions, the exchange of ignorance, bah!
The greatest…
Gabriel, my brother, painter of 8 years. The guy knows exactly what he wants; he is life, neck of the earth, intelligence and color. Definitely doing music with Iván has been absolutely gratifying, I have confronted the extravagancies, what is good; sometimes I don’t want to see them, but there they are, thirsty. I fight against them and they go, some of them faster than others. I have plenty tattoos in my soul to know that the scar is there, but it doesn’t hurt, that’s a great thing.
Do you think an artwork must be planed before, or can it take shape through the process?
I believe in the process of a creative life, constant and demanding, does not mean that the elaboration of an artwork needs searching parameters from the same creator.
The big format or mural works have sometimes a very exact adjustments and I see no problem if you have to use several methodologies to get a piece of art done. Projecting it or not, the making is a constant dialog, organic, mutable to get free, artwork and creator, then to live in another eyes, brains, colors and supports. It is a wonderful cycle and always different. There is no problem if you plan it before or later on, this doesn’t determinate if it’s a master piece or not, it must be concentrated, tempered and contemplated, what really indispensable is to grow, create, believe and give, and this is a matter of the present time.
Is the professional education for an artist important? (Having as a support a technical and artistic language)
Is definitely important, at least not to do the things like in primary school: From my experience I would say that without this formation this path would be even harder; I believe everyone needs of education.
Is art a process of knowledge or inspiration, or both?
Art is a divine creation canalized in a creative way to make a touchable conscience, several are the ways, infinite also its storylines. The thought can be also a worthy barrier for us; we can live attached to oxidized dogmas without noticing. The contemplation alone, as a result of intellectual exercise in a workshop, serves to exchange ignorance or to let the muse in. The intellect applied on the composition that is another thing, it helps me make a better and excellent application of the tool.
Try only to work once with the ruler of gold and you will have a hy for at least a year.
You get inspiration through the work, so we will have the guarantee in case the muse comes by, we are not sleepy; is necessary to wake up. Divine inspiration, essence, thought, powerful tools to the realization of the wonderful inspiration.
Who has supported you the most during your artistic career?
I have told already about how particular my family is. Everyone who could and was willing to help me and did it with the heart, at least a stretch of my way; between them are still, my father, my husband, the reminded masters, the laughter of friends and the good willing of my family. Honestly deep in my heart I suppose in silence supported me much more thoughts and strengths than I can feel; so there goes a blessing to those protecting and invisible loves of mine. The chance to be able to work from another virtual spheres, it’s thanks to Iván (Ivancho), he has made many things to happen, for instance things like this one, getting in contact each other, this is support: Thanks guys for the for this opportunity.
How would you describe yourself as an artist? And how would you define your artworks?
I’m a full artist; a musician friend of mine said to me once that I make symphonic painting, somebody else that my painting has a existentialist style, another one that definitely it is surrealism; my dear colleague Rafa Farias said once “ …the thing with Adriana is, that she is not a singer, a painter or a cook, she is an artist”; a whole artist.
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