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Caylin Harris talks with Ivette Vallejo.
Ivette Vallejo, Untitled, 2007. 60 x 48 inches, Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.Caylin Harris: When did you first start painting, and how has your work progressed since then?
Ivette Vallejo: My first attempt at painting was about 18 years ago. I was rummaging through my mom’s things and found an old suitcase filled with oil paints, brushes, and instructional books of how to paint flowers, you know those “Bob Ross” type books. One day my dad had given me an easel, so I set up shop in the backyard and attempted to paint some daisies in a vase. I made a mess of things! I really had no idea what I was doing. The result was an awful little painting. My mom kept it, she somehow knew it would be important to keep, and we now laugh every time we see it. When I was young, I was also into making things with my hands and using my dad’s tools and materials. Artist materials have always been interesting to me. I’d collect all types of pens and loved the smell of oil paint. I have always explored these things even if it meant teaching myself or making a mess. My work has changed tremendously, since that first painting. Over time it developed as I learned more about techniques and materials.I have had great mentors along the way, which have influenced changes. Significant changes occurred when I moved to LA to study with mentors Linda Day and Marie Thibeault. They both taught me so many things about art and the art world, and are still such great inspirations. Linda recommended I study with Marie, knowing it would have a lasting impression, and I would learn to understand and use color. Marie studied with Elmer Bishoff, who studied directly with Joseph Albers, making her a third generation color theory student. I enrolled in Marie’s color theory class, where she would play tapes of Albers lectures. I will never forget seeing her work with color aid paper. It was like seeing a magician with a deck of cards; it is amazing how much she understands colors and their complex relationships. As a result of her enthusiasm with color, I studied great masters of color, like Cézanne, Bonnard, and Klee. I am just fascinated by color and the kind of physical responses it stimulates, as well as its symbolic qualities. In the last few years the work has seen many changes, with the assistance of peers, faculty and visiting critics from the Graduate Fine Arts Department at the University of Pennsylvania. As a result of my experiences and time in the program, the work is more informed, focused, and intentional.
CH: The use of masking tape plays a role in your painting process. Could you describe your approach and this technique?
IV: In the beginning, I primarily used tape to get a good hard edge in my oil paintings. It then became more of a way to sketch out compositions, and gave me a better idea of what the work would look like. The tape allows me to compose at a one-to-one scale, which is very different from translating a small sketch on paper to a canvas. In many of my works, it is important to preserve the purity of the surface and ground color, which is usually really smooth and matte. The ground color is something that is planned out first and helps to execute the figure/ground ambiguity. Also the tape helps with avoiding any unintentionally contamination of colors. I use tape much less now, but still find it useful as a compositional tool.
CH: Since you began, have you utilized different materials/techniques?
IV: Yes, I have explored numerous materials. I have many ideas and not all of them can be tackled the same way. I often go into my studio and establish a goal of using a limited number of materials. This is how my paper sculptures and instillations came about. I had the idea of wanting to create my visual vocabulary, into three-dimensional objects. In the beginning I only allowed myself to use one piece of paper and an exacto knife. Then I established that I was to use the entire piece of paper, and could not use glue or tape. It’s actually amazing what I figured out to do working this way. I make changes and add rules as I continue my exploration. I have also applied this minimal approach with some drawings, limiting my materials to a pen and paper. The idea of using a pen forces me to embrace all the marks.
CH: Has the response to your work changed because of it?
IV: I respond differently to it and have had a relatively positive response to the advancement and exploration of techniques and materials.
CH: You generate your work through an approach called "bare attention" which focuses on the present. Could you speak a little about this process?
IV: Well “bare attention” is not a new idea to artists. I am really interested in all visual and auditory information, so I consider this state to be an awareness of that information and you as a maker of the work. It’s also a place where you leave your self-critical voice and judgments outside the studio door. I can’t make great work when I am criticizing each move I make. Of course, there is a time and place to evaluate the work, but it’s not during the creative process. I feel like when I am in this state of “bare attention,” it prohibits me from being on autopilot and creating inauthentic work. There is also a greater sense of play, risk, and openness, which helps me to explore new ideas and work. This type of awareness is also found in Buddhist teachings and in other disciplines.
CH: One of the things I really enjoy about your work is that it is open to multiple interpretations. What are your views on abstraction vs. figuration in your painting and how do you interpret your images?
IV: My goal is to navigate the viewer to a place, sometimes a meeting point, or a vista, bring them to the edge, then ask them to open their eyes. If the viewer is open, generous and playful, they’ll be able to experience the art. Duchamp talks about a “gap (as) the inability of the artist to express fully his intention”, and that this “gap” would be filled by a viewer who is engaged with the art, whose own interpretation is a “phenomenon of transmutation”. This idea of multiple interpretations is so exciting to me. I think each viewer’s experience is unique and no two people will have the same experience. So, the question of Abstraction vs. Figuration is something that the viewer needs to answer. My interpretation of the work is always in flux. It’s simultaneously foreign and familiar. In the world, I tend to see color and form first, and then I start to put that together and make it into something recognizable, or maybe not. I think it depends on the day and it changes as I grow and learn.
CH: You describe your work as "a wordless occasion." What do you hope that someone who has viewed your work will learn or experience?IV: The “wordless occasion” calls into action your other senses. Not only what is seen, but also, how it might sound or taste or feel. There isn’t one specific thing I expect someone to experience. I hope for questions to be asked, maybe a conversation to be had between the viewer and the painting. The viewer is informed about the work, by being in front of the work – however they choose to interpret it.
CH: Describe the role sound and music plays in your work.
IV: Music and sound have really influenced my work the last few years. This interest originated from the stillness and isolation of a four-week residency at the Vermont Studio Center in the summer of 2006. The environment amplified all of my all my senses. I remember everything sounded really LOUD, the birds, river, everything. Smells were intensified and colors seemed so saturated. After that experience, I started reading sound theory and the history of sound. I find it all very fascinating. I’ve been influenced by artists like Kandinsky and John Cage, but also by the writings and music of Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid) and his book Rhythm Science. The music in my studio definitely influences certain formal decisions when I’m working – its part of the “sound of the world” at that moment. So my interests and curiosity continues my investigation of the world as a soundscape.
CH: Do you know what direction you want to move towards in the future?
IV: Currently, I am looking through a lot of raw material from my travels in Spain. What the work will actually look like is a mystery. The investigation of ideas may take it in many directions. My curiosity and practice of really looking at and listening to the world drives and inspires the work. I believe my work will continue to go in a positive and successful direction.
