10 Questions with Carmen Aztibia

Carmen Aztibia (Buenos Aires, Argentina) was trained as a visual artist by Luis Wells, Liana Lestard, Juan Astica, Ángela Corti, Eduardo Stupía and Verónica Gómez. In 2022, she received a mention in the painting category of the National Salon of Visual Arts Domingo José Martínez at the Bonfiglioli Museum of Fine Arts in Córdoba (Argentina).

As an active walker, she observes her surroundings, aware of the vitality that each city has today, from which she takes references. The landscape is also a strong trigger in her poetics, triggering notions of space, the environment - every day or foreign -, the common, the community, and journeys. Tightening the boundaries between the self-referential and the collective, her work seeks to reflect on being in society, on exchange as human beings, and on how we collectively inhabit geography.

Geography is collectively inhabited.

@carmen_aztibia

INTERVIEW

First of all, introduce yourself to our readers. Who are you, and how did you start experimenting with images?

I am an Argentinean artist based in Buenos Aires who enjoys experimenting with visual language.
This has been my main means of expression since childhood, when I began to enjoy, above all, drawing. I have formalized my training by attending workshops and seminars, and also by participating in art analysis groups that allow me to generate a critical view of my own work.

Always looking for, Acrylic on paper, 20 x 35 cm, 2021 © Carmen Aztibia

How would you define yourself as an artist today?

I use painting, drawing, and collage as my main mediums. I am also currently exploring photography.
Art is a vital part of my days; I feel concerned by the reality that surrounds me and us, from which I take constant references.
I am an active walker who looks at my environment, aware of the vitality that every big city has nowadays, and this is a great source of inspiration. The landscape is also a strong trigger in my poetics, which generates notions about space, the environment - every day or foreign - the common, the communal, and the journeys. In recent works, the concern for global temperature change and the structure of the planet we inhabit is present. Tightening the boundaries between the self-referential and the collective, I try to oscillate between my own perspective and the collective gaze.

In your biography, you mention nature and walking as a big part of your life and influence your artistic practice. Can you tell us more about it? Do you have any story you want to share with our readers?

Walking, traveling, and coming into contact with environments that are different from my usual ones has always been a practice that I have forced myself to do assiduously. It allows me to leave the reality of my studio only to return with a fresh and unstructured view. The observation of external spaces stimulates me and becomes an integral part of my work.
The landscape of Argentinean Patagonia, which I recently crossed and where I took long walks last summer, also involved the body, the physicality demanded by the geography itself. Living in nature and not just observing it. Finding myself surrounded by mountains, lakes, and glaciers, which, with their magnificence, centered me on a different scale than usual, brought me closer to the immensity and the awareness of the incomprehensible.
When I return to the canvas, the palette changes, and each element becomes a symbolic resource that tries to highlight this experience, but also to conceptually incorporate issues that require ecological awareness. That is why I try to make the painting work as a starting point to involve the audience in this issue.

Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? What is your artistic routine when working?

There are many ways to create a work. I allow myself not to follow a structured or systematized procedure in order to allow the emergence of accidents and surprises that then become structural parts of the composition.
Sometimes, I start from a feeling linked to an experience; a phrase acts as a trigger, and it becomes a halo, difficult to describe in words, that motivates me, stays, and attracts me to the studio.
I have moments of higher and lower production. The flow is not constant, and I respect the drift that motivates this energy on its own. The materials are the beginning of a journey that then takes its own and often unexpected course.

And what would you like to communicate with your current work?

To provoke, to share an experience linked to colors and shapes in search of a reflective approach, a pause. I propose art as a possible approach to reflect on the current state of the world and its problems.

Untitled, Acrylic on paper, 20x35cm, 2022 © Carmen Aztibia

Untitled, Mixed media on paper, 25x35cm, 2022 © Carmen Aztibia

Your abstract paintings have vivid and striking colors. How do you choose your palette, and what does it represent for you?

I am attracted to different colors, depending on the subject. Generally, when I approach a particular palette, I work on it in different sizes and combinations.
I am particularly interested in blue, in its various shades, one of the oldest pigments, appearing in Egypt around 3600 BC. I associate them with water, nature, and the ever-moving sky, and therefore, they symbolize life itself.
My mentor, the Argentinean artist Juan Astica, always insists that my path is color, something that I feel is innate in me but which I have developed over time.

You also mention the landscape, environment, and your surroundings as your sources of inspiration. How do you transform what you see in your final paintings?

It is not a literal or translational process but an attempt to convey the impact these images have on me. It is a process that comes from contemplation and reflection.
My own versions of these encounters, these memories, find their way into a palette that is presented to me as specific, a format that I feel is appropriate to communicate.
There is always an intuitive guide, but it is an intuition that is trained and that, far from being anchored only in the emotional, is also located in relation to the readings and bibliography that accompany my experiences in order to achieve, in the most effective way possible, a desired connection with those who approach my work.

Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, 40x40 cm, 2022 © Carmen Aztibia

What do you think about the art community and market? And how did your perception change over the last year due to the pandemic?

I am always passionate about encountering the work of other artists. The last edition of the Venice Biennale and Cecily Brown's exhibition at the Met Museum had a great impact on me.
Cinema, literature, and music are always spaces to which I turn and which were vital during the pandemic. They are channels of orientation for me.
The relationship with the art market is tense, as it probably is for most artists. I am constantly torn between being in and being out. However, I actively participate in exhibitions, and I am working on internationalization to be able to circulate my production more globally.

What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Is there anything exciting you can tell us about?

I am working on projects related to the body, the biological, and the meanings of blood and its multiple meanings through history and literature. I am also experimenting with new palettes and photography.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.

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