Art is not just about creating an aesthetically pleasing piece, but rather creating it to convey the artist’s message that underlies the work. Spanish artist, Gema Alava presented the lecture,“Tell Me the Truth,” to Art Appreciation students on September 24t as part of Hispanic Heritage Month at SUNY Rockland.
Before beginning her lecture, Alava projected her support towards the students enrolled in the art program at RCC for fighting and believing in their art form, as creating art is a constant struggle. Undoubtedly, this struggle was highly prevalent in this artist’s path to become a renowned figure in the creative world.
Her career originated at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain where she studied traditional styles of art. “I wanted to communicate and share dialogue through art,” she explained when describing her switch of interest from traditional painting to a more refreshing and contemporary style.
Intrigued by American contemporary styles, Alava began to express her true art form at the San Francisco Art Institute by using installation pieces and photos. Her objective is to tell stories and express ideas through her work, rather than focus on technique. When Alava was asked which art mediums she works with most, she simply stated “whichever is needed to tell stories.”
At the San Francisco Art Institute, Alava faced adversity from her peers who criticized her work as not being “cutting edge” enough, simply because they did not understand her Spanish background as well as her purpose in the work.
“I make things that make sense to me but may not make sense to you. Everyone comes from different places; we need to see how many realities are out there so we can exchange ideas,” explained Alava when introducing some of her pieces in a slide show presentation. An important piece that was discussed was “Land of No One, 2002,” where she cut old Spanish business letters dating back from 1911 into small pieces and pinned them on a wall. The pieces were pinned in a way to depict delicateness and vulnerability and re-arranged into a manner that makes it almost inconceivable that these were once real letters.
One of Alava’s signature styles in her art is to purposely create pieces that look like they’re about to break. The reasoning she gave for doing so is, “It is interesting to see how people move around things that look like they are about to break.” It is almost as though each piece poses a new social experiment, which one doesn’t so often see when viewing art.
Although Gema Alava stresses the importance of creating meaning behind art, she allows her pieces to generate answers, “Once my work is out there, it’s not my job anymore. It’s up to the piece.”
Aside from having her work shown in such impressive museums as the Solomon S. Guggenheim Museum, Alava also devotes her time to helping hopeful, young artists display their work through various organizations rather than contributing to mass media.
Her reasoning behind doing so is that there is more value in “changing things” rather than name and she goes further on to say that art is “not about money or power, it’s about the art itself.”
Gema Alava’s challenging and revolutionary pieces open people’s minds to new perspectives on creativity. When asked to deliver one message to artists that are trying to make a name for themselves in the industry, Alava answered without hesitation, “Believe in yourself.”
Outlook Student Press > Features
Gema Alava Tells Us the Truth
Published: Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 18:10
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