10 Questions with Guillermo Pacheco

Guillermo Pacheco is an artist from Maryland currently residing in New York City. Throughout his architectural education, Pacheco became obsessed with the connection between art and architecture. In his final year of graduate school at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Guillermo pushed the boundaries of what his professors thought architecture could be. The architectural drawings Pacheco produces act as research tools in the further development of what he calls /dəˈjen(ə)rət/ Architecture. A style of representing architecture that was born out of his master's thesis, "Mechanic(o)lonization".
/dəˈjen(ə)rət/ Architecture represents a lacking of some property, order, or distinctness of structure previously or usually present.

A reach into the extraordinary to experiment with conventional networks of being, Pacheco's explorations of spatial representation allow his visual works to move away from literal depictions of natural scenes and towards conceptual representations and experiences. Because of his tenacity to be "un-critique-able", Pacheco was awarded the AIA Henry Adams award at the end of his final year at RPI.

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ARTIST STATEMENT

“Art, in my opinion, is a representational expression of an idea about space. My architecture training has given me the compulsion to experience the subjective space I inhabit within objective reality space. This analysis relies heavily on the sensory tools we all possess. My art/architecture, in turn, is a translation of the information interpreted by said tools, often in the manner they were received; fast, spatial, crude.”

— Guillermo Pacheco

INTERVIEW

First of all, introduce yourself to our readers. Who are you, and how would you describe yourself in three words?

Hello, my name is Guillermo Pacheco. I am a 25-year-old recent graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Masters of Architecture Program living in Astoria, Queens, New York. I would say three words that describe me are: adaptive, contemplative, and dedicated. 

You have a background in architecture. When did you decide you wanted to experiment with visual art?

That is a very tricky question for me because, in my opinion, architecture and art go hand in hand. Architecture, for me, is the science of the artful manipulation of space. This definition covers art as well because I see art as a manipulation of space also. 
I would say that I first started to artfully experiment with my architecture during my senior year at Bowling Green State University. The charge of the project was to redesign a rundown neighborhood in Toledo. At the time, I was infatuated with the work of the Futurist architects from the 1920s and, more specifically, the work of Yona Friedman. So what I did was speculate about a completely flooded city of Toledo and design a superstructure to contain all the residents and life in the city. The structure itself was influenced by the book "Invisible Cities" by Italo Calvino, specifically the city of Octavia. 

Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? How do you start and work on a new project?

Lately, my work has been focused on the idea of manipulating the architecture of mental space. So I created a code wherein, through a translation of letters to angles and lengths, I can take a sentence and translate that onto the page, which creates a base framework of spatial planning, thus ingraining that idea into a physical form on the page. From then, I try not to think and let the framework I set up create and manipulate the space on the page with me as the vessel for the idea to come about. 

What are your influences and sources of inspiration?

I am influenced largely by academics in this sect of architecture who are working on similar types of ideologies and drawing styles. Aside from them, I find inspiration from trying to be as open as possible. I believe that if you go searching for inspiration, you'll never find it; you have to be willing for it to come to you in order to see it. So I gather inspiration wherever I can, be it from the bodega across the street or a lamp post that catches my eye. Everything has the potential to put you in the mindset that allows ideas to flow and connect. 

What are, in your opinion, the key aspects of a good architecture project? 

I believe a good architecture project is one that artfully manipulates space. A simple apartment building can be an interesting project if the way in which they design the space is engaging. It is not simply about how an architectural intervention looks but why it works in the ways it does. 

How do you mix your work in architecture with that as a visual artist? Do you find any similarities and differences in your approach to these different fields? 

I treat and see my drawings the same as if I was working in a standard architecture firm. Each drawing incorporates different perspectives, angles, cuts, and dimensionalities that architecture firms use when designing buildings. Their work is the same as mine, only we speak about them differently. 
I see them both as trying to accomplish the same goal: to manipulate space as artfully as possible. 

What are the main themes you would like to tackle with your work?

Experimentation. If we don't experiment with and try to think differently about our position in physical space, modernism wins, and we will all succumb to the blank white cube. 
That's what architecture and art do; they allow us to interpret our spatial setting differently. 

Do you find that the shift to digital exhibitions and art fairs has helped you promote your work?

I have yet to show any of my work in a digital exhibition, aside from my Instagram. But without that digital connection to the world, I would not be able to connect with the people and the work I am inspired by. That would be a much more painstaking process were it not for the digital sphere.

What do you think about the art community and market?

I find the community much more sympathetic than the market. Most everyone is willing and able to critique and have conversations about your work in a constructive and respectful way. With the huge shift to the digital space in more recent times, it is much easier to find the niche you fit into and the people you mesh with. 

Finally, any projects or exhibitions you are looking forward to this year?

The exhibitions I look forward to are the posts on my Instagram of newly finished work.
The project I look forward to is the continuation of my post-grad research on experimental architectural drawing. Which, of course, is exhibited on my Instagram.