Facebook reminded me today that eight years ago I had my first individual exhibition, at Coffee and Art Restaurant in Altamira, Caracas, Venezuela. My beau at the time, Svenn, helped set it up and I found he had a great eye for display. The artwork was made from pieces of wood cut into 21 cm squares with broken ceramic tiles stuck on and splashes of paint Jackson Pollock-style and some had items I had found in the street. I called the exhibit ¨Garbage to Beauty¨. It came about thus: I was feeling very sad because a five month long affair with a well-known artist was coming to an end. I had told him from the start that I saw him as a friend and mentor and not as a lover but he insisted in inviting me out and paying me lots of attention and used to invited me over to his house for lunch and I would stay 6, 8 and even 10 hours at a time, talking about all sorts of things, seeing movies together, entertaining his friends, seeing him create art and acting a bit as his secretary since he would sit me at the computer and ask me to find any news mentioning his name. Eventually I started having romantic feelings for him and as soon as I told him so he started growing colder and colder and eventually stopped seeing me, which was extremely baffling. After all, he had accomplished what he had set out to do, which was to seduce me! So I was walking with my head down, once again not understanding men and I came upon some pieces of granite thrown away and I immediately got the idea to use the cold material as a metaphor for this man and paint on it flowers with nail varnish since he always complained that my nails were not in perfect condition at all times to which I would always counter that I am not a ¨kept¨ woman who does nothing all day long; I use my hands to sweep, mop, paint, clean, wash, cook, tidy up, plant, create and type etcetera and that it was not easy to do everything on one´s own without help and stay perfectly coiffed at all times...! After painting the granite pieces I stuck them onto velvet-draped wood and sent it to be framed. Only one survives in good condition. One of the series was sold and is now in a house in Miami; others were given as gifts to friends and some are in my mother´s house where there are still looking fabulous!

Artist Feature: Alexandra Masson

In August 2012 I had the fortune of being interviewed by a wonderful online art magazine called Liquorice. I loved the questions I was asked because they gave me the opportunity to pinpoint more aspects about myself. Here is the link to the page with the interview. Hope you enjoy reading it!

https://liquorice-blog.blogspot.com/2012/08/alexandra-masson-was-born-in-england.html

24/08/2012

Artist Feature: Alexandra Masson

Alexandra Masson was born in England but only stayed here for 6 weeks before being taken to Madrid, Spain where she lived for 2 years and then moved on to Buenos Aires, Argentina. At just 13 years old she left Argentina to live in Venezuela (with a two year stint in London in 1988). With no formal training in art Masson says she is "always suprised and a little bit shocked when my artwork is accepted in a salon," and that her only regret in life is not having a degree in Fine Art. Instead of art, Masson studied Biology, Law and  English-Spanish simultaneous interpretations and translations, which is how she currently makes her living. Art began for Masson, as it often does for others, as a means to expressing bottled up feelings that couldn't be related in any other way, and learning through short art and photography courses. Masson's art is bold and vivid and full of bright colour. These mixed media, edited, collage paintings are a joy to behold, and almost look like optical illusion art; the abstract positioning of paper and paint, enhanced digitally creates a tangled maze containing unintentional imagery. LIQUORICE has been lucky enough to have this wonderfully insightful and profound interview with Alexandra Masson! Read on for more...

Tell LIQUORICE a little more about yourself:

In his book called "Peace is the Way", Deepak Chopra states that the inner is reflected in the outer. This thought has moved me profoundly and has led me to countless hours of daydreaming trying to elucidate the ramifications and repercussions of such a simple but mind-blowing statement. The rubbish we see outside of us is a reflection of the rubbish inside. We humans are torn by two conflicting forces, eros (the life-affirming force) and thanatos (the death and destruction-seeking force). I know it because I see it in my family, in my friends and in myself. Creation and destruction are always present, inside and outside. When we manage to turn our destructive impulses into creative ones, we will all be better off, because we will have attained unity within ourselves and therefore outside of ourselves. Nature mirrors this conflict that is inside of us. 

Turning trash into art is my personal way of trying to turn my trash into something beautiful, as my tiny contribution or grain of salt towards living in more harmonious surroundings. Perhaps it is also a way of domesticating the beast, the beast meaning the dark side in me… Beauty has always been important to me. A great philosopher once said that beauty is truth. I would like to explore that thought more deeply and really understand what it means.  I want to create art from things that already exist, by transforming them and revealing what is hidden from others. My astrological sign is Sagittarius, a sign of fire. Fire destroys in order to clear space for creation. Fire also keeps us warm and cozy. Fire kills germs and bacteria, thereby protecting us from unseen threats. Fire has a dual nature, so to speak, the creative and the destructive sides.

What medium/s do you use in your work? 

I use paint and photographs and software to modify my photos. I originally began with rejected materials and have taken that up once again, painting used pizza boxes and adding words cut from newspapers and broken jugs, etc.

What or who inspires you the most? 

I used to be inspired by romantic love and love lost but lately I am more interested in evoking moods in other persons and also creating art and listening to the interpretation other persons have of it... as a way to fathom other people´s minds, to be amused by the interpretation other persons have of the art I produce. I guess this means that I am inspired by how people feel and interpret what they see...

Who is your favourite artist ever and why?! 

My favorite artist ever used to be Vincent Van Gogh but recently I have switched to Gerhard Richter because he intervened photographs with paint, which eventually evolved to his current abstract paintings, which I find reminiscent of Monet's lily pond. 

What's your favourite colour and why? 

I have several favourite colors: all shades of pink, all shades of purple including lavender and lilac and aquamarine blue.

The first time I participated in the Salon Dycvensa of Caracas

The first time I was accepted to participate in the collective show entitled Salon Dycvensa in Caracas, I was extremely happy. It was a great accomplishment for me. I participated with a painting I did with my fingers in barely 10 minutes. I called it ¨The Avila Mountain is Burning!¨ (in Spanish, ¨!El Avila se está quemando!¨. The Avila Mountain is emblematic of Caracas, it tells us where the North is located and cleans the air for all this city´s inhabitants. It is also beautiful and imposing. But sometimes when it gets too hot spontaneous fires arise and burn down a lot of it and some of the native fauna suffers tremendously. There was one year when I could hear the crackling of the branches on fire from the balcony of my apartment and the ashes and soot and smell of smoke would become overwhelming. The fire lasted for days and days. I used to see the measly helicopter carrying buckets of water to quench the fire, almost as if a hummingbird carried water in its beak to put the fire out. At the same time there was a fire near my aunt´s house. A mango tree from the next-door neighbor caught fire. That mango tree was directly over the roof of my aunt´s house. My aunt was 75 years old and had to get up on the roof and throw buckets of water at the tree in flames. I was in a state of shock. I wasn´t anywhere nearby to help and felt amazed at the efforts she made to prevent her house from burning down to the ground. All these events shocked and caused an impression on me and compelled me to paint the painting. 

Here is a link in Spanish that states the names of the other fellow artists who participated: Para la muestra, un jurado calificado evaluó un total de 76 piezas entre fotografías, esculturas y pinturas, a partir de las cuales escogieron 31 obras. El grupo quedó conformado por talentosos artistas de Lara, Bolívar, Aragua, Sucre, Monagas, Falcón y hasta de nacionalidad argentina, francesa y británica, lo cual indica la importancia, diversidad y expansión del Salón de Artes Visuales Dycvensa.

Entre los elegidos están: María Elena Álvarez, Vanessa Balleza, Marco Antonio Bello, Ramseit Cairos, María Eugenia Catoni, María Júlia Cidras, Marisol Cives, Nathaly Dams, Arlette Darmon, Kehylee Degano, Carlota Delgado, Dalia Ferreira, Néstor García, Víctor García Avellaneda, Marienna García Gallo y Hensen García González.

De igual forma participarán: Miguel García Moya, Dinorah Giménez, Irama Gómez, Carlos Hergueta, Clara López, Marisa Manuzzato, Alexandra Masson, Emelina Melian, Carmen Michelena, Juan Mogollón, Fran Morales, Linda Phillips, Cecilia Urbaneja, Eva Uzcátegui y Carmen Zoila Príncipe.

Como en años anteriores, en los días previos al cierre de la exposición se reunirá un jurado con amplia y conocida trayectoria en artes visuales para elegir la “Mejor Obra” y “Mejor Fotografía”, galardones a los cuales se unirá el “Premio Ciudadano Dycvensa”, otorgado por la votación del público asistente al salón.

La premiación y cierre de la exposición será el domingo 21 de noviembre, fecha en la que representantes de la constructora otorgarán en metálico el incentivo de ocho mil bolívares para cada ganador, lo que suma un total veinticuatro mil bolívares a repartir entre los tres artistas más destacados de la muestra.

The folder 'Alexandra Masson' has been shared with you

The folder 'Alexandra Masson' has been shared with you: Alexandra Masson

TRAVELS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY - THOMAS COOK 2015 CONTEST

In 1988 I went to live in England, concretely London, to expand my vision of the world I knew at the time. I saved up for a year and took a 28-day tour all over Europe to get to know as many countries as possible. It was a fabulous experience and I met a lot of young people my age from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Sometimes we would sleep in tents we ourselves had to erect and sometimes we slept in fabulous mansions, for instance in the wine region in Bordeaux, France. At the end of the trip I had a pretty good idea what countries I wanted to visit again. 

I had some fabulous experiences: for instance I experienced Venice for the first time at night during a thunderstorm. It was as if the Creator was giving me a special light and sound show! it was awesome.
The following photo corresponds to the ¨Water¨ entry in the 2015 Thomas Cook contest: 

During the tour I made good friends with Denielle, a girl from Australia, and at the end we both decided to save up for one more year and go visit Egypt and Israel... but that is food for another blog entry...

The next photo corresponds to the ¨Fire¨ entry in the 2015 Thomas Cook contest: 

Afterwards, with my boyfriend we decided to go to the Lake District in England and visit Hadrian´s Wall... 

The next photo corresponds to the ¨Earth¨ entry in the 2015 Thomas Cook contest:

I confess I have always been fond of travelling. I like the excitement of getting to know a new place, enjoying how beautiful the planet earth is in some places, getting out of the city and being able to see the horizon, appreciating the local gastronomy/cuisine and colors and tastes and phisionomy and expanding my views on life...

Here is a photo I took from the airplane window while flying over the Bahamas in the 90´s...

The next photo corresponds to the ¨Air¨ entry in the 2015 Thomas Cook contest: 

As per the rules of the 2015 Thomas Cook Contest, I nominate the following bloggers:

I nominate the 5 following bloggers to take part in this competition: 

David Kamal http://skapart.blogspot.com/

Aglaia Berlutti http://www.theaglaworld.com/

Arnaldo Utrera https://arnaldoutrera.wordpress.com/

Carlos Drakkar http://enlanaturaleza.ning.com/profile/CarlosDrakkar

Javier Jesus Fuentes Perez http://javierjfuentes.blogspot.com/?spref=fb

The deadline is fast approaching so I urge you to participate! The rules and Terms & Conditions to enter this competition are here: http://www.thomascook.com/blog/holiday-competitions-deals/explore-the-elements/#comp_rules . Good luck to all of you!

More blogs to come in the future...