Cecilia H. Molano

Usually we try to avoid art that has a more conceptual than graphic approach to things. It’s not a question of liking it or not but to focus on certain artists and not trying to cover everything happening out there. In Cecilia H. Molano’s case there a bit of that whole conceptual art thing but also a little bit of a more specific and graphic side of art. In fact there’s a lot of a few other things as well because she seems able to do a little bit of a lot of everything covering many different disciplines. The list of the links to her work is by itself quite significative:
www.rizomarte.com
www.escritoalapiz.es
www.es.youtube.com/cecimolano
www.vimeo.com/cecimolano/videos

So it will be better if she tells us about it in her own words.

When?, Where?, How? and Why? you started to consider yourself an artist or at least when did you first started to see that you wanted to draw, paint… for a living?

I still don’t see myself as an artist… I do things that somehow are related to art but because of pure need, because I need to grab the video camera or the brush or design… and that has always happened. Since I was little I could see clearly that what I wanted to do is draw. If that means being an artist truth is that this need has been with me all along.

Your work is so diverse that I don’t even know where to start. I know this is very limitative but, in which discipline you feel more at ease? what’s the first natural thing to do when you need to express something through your art?

For me disciplines are nothing but means to an end… each one offers something that makes it attractive in comparison to others. For instance: I like working with ink because what it has of accidental of unpredictable of alive. It offers you a direct relationship with the paper that’s very difficult to obtain through other techniques and that’s the same reason why I like engravings or illustration: how it is a challenge because it’s both difficult and extremely attractive at the same time. It’s funny because I never feel myself in doubt about what technique I should use when I have something to tell because when and idea comes up it comes along with the way to do it. If I had to choose one between all them however, I would probably go for video because that’s where I find myself more at ease. It allows me to play with time, the mise-en-scene… and I like the way it lets me handle concepts. It lets me “paint” very freely.

Besides the purely artistic side of your work, and as a perfect example of what’s happening with many creative individuals of your generation, you also do a lot of commissioned work as a graphic designer and in your case also as a scenery designer… the same way as graphic designers exhibit their work at art galleries and museums. At the end the distinction lies more in the fact that you are either answering some communication need of some type from someone else or a your own personal expressive needs. Is your work as a graphic or scenery designer something you do purely to pay the bills or is it something where you enjoy the challenge of the limitations of a client’s briefing?

Ufff……. That’s a very complex question… starting with the last part: It depends very much on the client and the kind of relationship you establish with him whether the job turns into a challenge or into a limitation. Just like that. On occasions you find yourself in front of a job that you find stimulating and that allows you try new things, grow… on others the only reason you are doing the job is paying the bills. More each time the second case has a cost that’s just too elevated because it makes you do work that you don’t want to assume as your own although sometimes that’s difficult to evaluate at first and at the ends it doesn’t pays off. Right now I’m betting on not doing those anymore. I think this is something that happens to many other designers at some point. As far as the scenery and wardrobe design for theater that’s different. For me it’s impossible to take that as another kind of commissioned work because of the nature of this kind of work: It’s a very lengthy and more complex procedure and it requires of a greater level of commitment. When I’ve faced one of these jobs for purely economic reasons it’s been a disaster. What’s really difficult about my job for theater is finding a place where I’m comfortable, something that’s more akin to my own language and that presents me with mechanisms and questions that I find interesting.

And for all those activities, do you use different alter egos or there’s a common Cecilia H. Molano style in all those different forms of expression? Is it something you look for or maybe just can’t help it?

I think that’s something you just can’t help despite the fact that the languages for each discipline are very different and despite the different styles I can use, there is an underlying coherence… maybe my trademark it’s precisely how difficult is to create a style across so many different disciplines. No matter how diverse I do feel everything as fragments of a single discourse.

Out of everything that you find out there and that nourishes your artistic output I’d say that you put emphasis on the individual and its relationships with its surroundings, however imprecise that might be. Would you say that this or other elements are a permanent referent in your work?

Yes, no doubt that there’s a bit of personal reflection and positioning that defines itself as something more intimate, close to the body and also on occasions to the words but nevertheless very personal. I like the idea of looking onto something and also the idea o limit and how you get in touch with the surroundings and those who share them. I like to reflect, from the visual, about concept pertaining to other disciplines that call my attention and somehow I need of creation to think and think-me.

I would like to know more about your creative process. In your case, it is more important than the result? Is it very impulsive or rational? And that balance between the process and the result, is it very different for the different disciplines that you work with?

Process before result, definitely more instinctive. That’s without any artistic pride. I do envy those the rational processes I see in other artists and I’m very interested in the concepts behind them, their purification, coherence and on occasions I try hard to follow a process of that type but at the end the impulsive side of me wins most of the times. As far as the logic of the process however, it changes. If I draw or paint in general I need more time to try things out, I feel more insecure, I hesitate and I find it hard to find myself. With video is much quicker, it boils up inside my head for a few days, I write down a few notes and suddenly it’s ready. I take the camera and in no time I’m editing. When it’s a graphic design job or something for theater it’s quite different and there’s a clearly rational process: I research, look for myself, try myself out… I try to find valid metaphors. I scratch the process little by little until something comes up.

Also about the process: Your work both with analog and digital techniques and I feel you try to give the digital a dirty look, an analog feel. Do you intentionally try to vindicate the analog?

I love the digital because of the freedom it gives you and I hate it because of the appearance it can give the result: The excess in filters and effects, certain plastic feel… A friend was telling me about a “dirty white” that he finds in my work and I agree there’s a certain quality in my work that has to do with texture and skin… not exactly something that I relate to analog but a way of manipulating materials that has to do with the pictorial maybe.

Also if I didn’t get it wrong you are also a publisher and besides in your videos there’s a prominence of the word. Tell us a bit about this and how it relates to everything else that you do.

My work as a publishers is within the «escrito a lápiz» project that’s very recent (just 1 year old) and also very small, I would say that intentionally small. Reading is one of those unavoidable activities and my connection to words is vital. I’m interested in poetry, I feel moved with things I read, I’ve always written and words, as you say is very present in my work. «Escrito a lápiz» comes from all that. I felt like publishing the books that I like and self-publish some too that I had in mind… books seem like a privileged medium. I do everything in the publishing company: I choose the texts, illustrate them sometimes, do the layout, distribute the books… it reminds me of a ticket clerk in a movie theater I used to go to with one of my sisters: It was the same man that first would sell you the ticket, them take you to your seat and later sold you the popcorn!

What’s your experience in the world of art galleries and institutions and selling and making your work known?

The issue with selling and spreading your work is a very complicated one. The experience with «escrito a lápiz» has taught me a lot. It’s easier to sell someone’s else work. And in a way the publishing makes me want to also sell my other work that I was more reluctant to show or I kept to myself. It’s funny because it seems like one becomes an artists not because what you do but because what others see. I makes me doubt but at the same time I feel that it’s necessary to count with other people seeing what you do. At least I do need the feedback. The experience with galleries has been good so far and besides I enjoy meeting people doing things and galleries are good for that. I’ve prepared a few shows or some video-art sessions and as I get used to it becomes easier but it’s still difficult. Sometimes I’ve talked to people, graphic designers that are good at self-marketing and they have given me advice that haven’t been much help to tell you the truth. Each one of us finds its own way eventually and their own way of doing things without feeling too much of an outsider.

What have you been doing lately?

Right now I’m teaching theater wardrobe design for the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático de las Islas baleares, in Palma de Mallorca, and I’m very happy with the experience. I learn a lot and I get to spend time both on the island and in Madrid where I’m designing the wardrobe for a new theater play premiering in April. On a personal level I’m reading and supposedly preparing my thesis and also thinking what I’m going to be doing with a huge studio space that suddenly appeared in my live and also preparing a couple of videos with some ideas I’m having…

Any plans for the future that you want to tell us about?

I’d like to take advantage of all the free time I’ll be having this year to do more personal work. Plans for the future as such? Nothing certain. I feel like travelling and live outside of Spain for a while, probably study something… who knows what?

What project you would like to do but didn’t have chance yet?

The last occasions I’ve showed my video work have been collective shows or in festivals and screenings sessions… i would like to do some video work that’s more site-specific. It’s something I still have to define some more but when I’ve done things like this in the past it’s been very nice.

Any artist or initiative you want to recommend?

As far as artists goes, I can think of many but I’ll just mention some that are close that maybe aren’t too well known and are really talented: The work that she’s been doing for years with contemporary dance, poetry and drawing: Mónica Valenciano. In illustration and painting I recommend the work of Eduardo Ortiz. They have collaborated with «escrito a lápiz»: Estíbaliz Mintegui, the collective Confusión Group, the girls from Velcroart, that work with net art the work as publishers of Pepitas de calabaza or La uña rota. I would also recommend the lito prints by Paula Fraile or the uncouth illustrations of Delphine Delas or the beautiful ones by Ana Yael, and the very delicate work of Luján Marcos on tiles.

April 7th, 2009 06:18pm Administrador