Spraying the colours of love
LOS HONGOS -
About the evening
Last month we loved the opportunity to share the work of three artists - Director OSCAR RUÍZ NAVIA, Artwork JAN HERRMANN, and Playlist ATABEY. We love the relationship between these separate disciplines and lives; how one work can spark inspiration, contextualised by personal experience. At each screening we are excited to share new artists and their personal takes. The works they create are odes to everything REDEYE stands for, cross-practice communities. It is all the more invaluable when received with love and appreciation.
There was a lot to be thankful for in the various ways we received - reflecting on the experience, I am excited to share more about these great people who love to create and took the opportunity to support.
Oscar is equal parts giving and receiving
OSCAR is a director possessing outstanding awareness of his role in the process of presenting stories which reflect the depths of a lived experience. In an interview titled BOMB, OSCAR is forthcoming with his approach; he tells us about the things going on in his life off the back of his first feature-length, Crab Trap, a film shot in the jungle. He wanted to begin something new in the city. At this time, he got news of his Grandmother's passing - so instead of going to his place in Bogata, he went back home to Cali. In Cali, these events brought his focus to 'promoting the idea of life'. His intent rested on representing a reality or several - lives from different settings, Calvin & Ras, drawn to the same point. OSCAR is not authoritative in his approach, setting himself to receive from the community. His interest fertilised by their stories informed Los Hongo’s cadence to produce something sociological and feels accurate in its representation. There is much to distil from his forthrightness in this interview - here is one of the gems we took: besides interest, the story on screen, the intent behind the camera is crucial because it too is palpable on the screen. Although this is not something OSCAR explicitly says, it was something tangible we pulled out (from) between his work and his words. As much as REDEYE cares about sharing films that replenish the creative palette, the information they hold in their process, from concept to creation, is precious; it is not immediate but is substantive and constructive.
A sit down with JAN
We were fortunate to have been introduced to Jan early in the summer on his short stay visiting a friend in the city. He told us of his work engaging his community through his practice. We took to how he spoke about his personal experience, specifically the structures which enabled him; it was intuitive for him to give this back and push it in other directions. His research thesis at university provided a new structure and space to refract the light he had received early on. In a long-form conversation (coming soon) with Emmanuel Awuni, Jan discussed his pursuit and the things informing him where to point.
In the conversation, they continued to hail those sources of inspiration; they spoke on the idea that being at the top is synonymous with being alone. And that loneliness is the hand pointing to the increasing space for more people to occupy. Therefore being intentional, inviting and sharing space with others creates a mobile community and safeguards its members.
Grounded in this, Jan has pushed to establish a practice combining his academic training in design with his lifetime practice of graffiti and gained approval to access and produce artworks on private and publicly commissioned sites. Jan conducts workshops almost weekly, all year, working with ten 24-year-olds through a Non-government Organisation @verbunt_ev. The kids are making art and holding a spray can for the very first time. In a recent session, they created more than 600 pages of Arrow motif iterations before spraying on site. The programme ran for A week; below are the images of their creative collaboration.
Carlos Maria Romero is fearsome; Atabey Mamasita A beautiful creature (person) - one in all is the artist
Atabey Carlos Maria Mamasita-Romero is frightening and beautiful, an artist innately fast-paced, far ahead of the curve as though the world forces him to slow down. Teaching, curating, performing and creating visual works that are loud with intent and evocative even as images; they are thoroughly researched (and) didactic in presentation. Each is a snapshot of a continuous yearning to the world for true expressive freedom. Active and engaged through various groups of multiform art-based social researchers, Atabey Carlos Maria Mamasita-Romero works to (re-)claim possession - of human rights, historically marginalised heritage & architectural goods, and sexual and gender oppression.
