Portrait

Humor is so Venezuelan

One thing I didn’t recognize in me as being Venezuelan, even after more than 18 years of being away from my home country, is humor. I didn’t recognize it until shortly. After seeing all these years of artwork as well as the posts and texts in my website, I discovered humor is one of the binding forces in my life.

Humor is so Venezuelan. We laugh about ourselves, about life, bad luck… pretty much about everything.

“Al mal tiempo buena cara” (put a good face in bad times) is something you learn as a child and “Reír para no llorar” (laugh so you don’t cry) sounds a bit like “fake it ‘till you make it”. I guess it’s our way of being optimistic or bringing about happiness out of thin air. We just smile.

I tried and tried to add seriousness to my style, to the way I do things, I even wrote my statement in the third person like many artists do, but that just isn’t me. Besides, all of my drawings start with a guessing game, there’s a playfulness to every piece I make.

Authenticity is important for me. And I am so Venezuelan, I’ll just go on laughing at myself, my work and my world.

*If you’re interested in purchasing a piece from the 100 Urban Faces series, please contact me at art@atamayka.com

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The many faces of an artist

At night, my very vivid dreams fuel the projects I have in my mind. I remember working on a piece of clay, all night, to make a sculpture… in my dreams. I woke up and ran to make the lady of my dreams before I would forget her. Too bad I didn’t even make a picture of her, as she sold immediately. So you see, I really am working all day and night.

I could be doing this forever without selling a thing. But don’t get me wrong, I do want to sell all of my art pieces. But if I didn’t sell them, would this whole urge to make art be worth it? Yes! Sustainable? No! My basement can only hold so many pieces.

Being a sustainable artist means that you will also be a business woman, a marketer, a salesperson, a writer, an accountant, an archivist, etc. I’ve been making short funny videos lately, how about adding musician to the mix?

(The painting above is available at the gallery Kunstraum Hopfgarten from Peter Ainberger. If you are interested in other paintings you see on my Instagram feed or my website, please contact me at art@atamayka.com)

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The weird artist – featuring Angry Sally

In times where most of what you see gives you the feeling of „been there, done that“ and taking into consideration the actual state of affairs on this planet: nowadays, finding humor in things is not such an easy task.

Humor, for me, comes out naturally. It’s part of my Venezuelan upbringing, we make jokes and laugh about absolutely everything. Even in the darkest of situations – like the actual political, economical and social disaster in my country – my people will laugh and joke about it, too.

My art pieces always have that quirky and playful component,
here in Austria you say “ein bisschen Humor muss sein”
(there has to be at least a bit of humor).

I think humor is vital for all of us!

The absolute start of a painting or drawing is, in my case, serendipitous and the development of it takes a life of its own. Staying true to your line, even when you are bombarded 24/7 with images that could influence an outcome or being tempted to do what is trending, is what I do. Trends are not my thing.

Daring to be playful, portraying the weird and quirky is what I do.

Oh, by the way. Why do you think she’s so angry?
Maybe someone took her cab.

The 100 Urban Faces series of wall sculptures are available. For details, please contact me at art@atamayka.com

Merken

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One sentence stories:
„… and so finally, he took the fish.“

My cousin will move from Turin-Italy to China at the beginning of 2017. It has gotten me thinking about the early stage in which you move to a new country.

My home country is Venezuela, but i‘ve had to adapt to the U.S.A., Spain and Austria. You have to not only understand a new language, but you also have to learn how to interpret a whole new set of body language signs.

Like when some cultures nod, in what we western people would understand a yes, to mean no.

Our intimate moments, deep within our heads, translate into mimics. These gestures are conditioned by cultural and social learning. And they are also read according to our cultural and social backgrounds.

For example, how many interpretations of the face above would we find?

Tiredness of living
Sadness (maybe because my cousin is leaving Europe 😉 )
Dissapointment
Trying to listen to what someone is saying in the background
Making a decision

I wonder what this face would suggest in Asia or Africa…
Are our cultures so different that we might interpret something totally different?

In my case, I was looking at this when I was drawing him…

So, this is my one sentence story:
„and so, he took the fish“

+ (Note: For inquiries, please contact me at art@atamayka.com) +

Merken

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Stories behind the 100 Urban Faces:
This doodle turned into a portrait of Alfred

Serendipity: I decided a couple of years ago that all of my drawings were to be of fortuitous origin.
And as doodles they all start. This one I call funny Opa, Opa is the Austrian-German word for grandfather. Casually he turned out to look like a portrait of Alfred, a very kind gentleman I happen to know, he lives here in town and has the most beautiful snow white hair I’ve ever seen.

I’ve loved the word Serendipity (sponsored link) since I saw Kate Beckingsale and John Cusack in that film (yes, I’m a girlie girl, you can roll your eyes at me) and doodling is trendy now, but I’ve been playing the game of finding out what hides behind random lines since I was a child. Can you guys remember Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood? (I know, I just gave my age away).

Find out more about serendipity and the ceramic wall sculpture series “100 Urban Faces”

+ (Note: The 100 Urban Faces series of wall sculptures are available. For details, please contact me at art@atamayka.com) +

Merken

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