Bianca Trevino: Experimenting with Materials
Age is sometimes not proportionate with a maturity of artistic talents: Bianca Trevino well resembles this matter of fact. Living just a few hours away from NYC, with a strong background of relevant international experiences, this young artist has made traveling as her own mantra, and a good reputation through direct sales to collectors that gave her the greatest achievement. The author of strong impact visuals, drawing inspiration from Dada, Pop Art and Street Art, among the others, Trevino has learned how to build up touching images of figures and landscapes, exploiting the enriching power of mixing materials, such as salt crystals, seeds, wax and resin.
If abstraction looks as the trait d’union of her works done so far, how does real life affecting her inspirations?
I always say that my life is my art. I like to move, explore, experience, experiment, connect, interact… I find this human experience very interesting. To me, we are the reaction of light vibrations, with a beautiful source of energy, something quite whimsical.
Light vibrations interact in our environment, call it home, office, car, beach, forest, jail, dessert, zoos, parks, people, friends, mascots, nature, food, fruit, grains, honey, beef, chicken, fish, sugar, plastic, petroleum, etc, etc… Some vibrations have a better interaction with us than others…
My work has been inspired by what you call ¨real life¨, which to me is a perspective, a point of view… my point of view. Life, a four simple letter word that encloses so many complexes. Life is beautiful. Even in this foolish world where wars are happening, people still has no potable water at their homes, refugees are looking for a roof, there are people whose toilet is made of gold, and cats that make millions with the Youtube videos… it’s a senseless world.
What I have created it’s what I have seen, experienced and learned. As my response, my art: I appreciate, observe and worry about many things, and the best way how I interact with people is my art. Through it, I can create an infinite sense of feelings and responses without saying a word.
I express myself on different ways, illustrations, paintings, sculptures, installations. I try to make my art as the word ¨life”, brief, easy, simple to understand, yet complex when you look deep into it.
Wild extinction is an action to try to create awareness about endangered species around the world. Many of us are so busy with life and work that forget there’s the world out there, and every decision we take has a consequence, its all connected. Think of all the plastic you use: straws, plastic bags, water bottles, etc. Some get recycled, but most of it don’t and it ends in the ocean where many species get affected. Did you know there´s an area the size of NY estate floating in the ocean full of plastic?
We consume so much stuff that is made of plastic and sometimes we don’t wonder where it might end up! Luckily, this is something that is starting to change slowly. I was inspired by diving and snorkeling in the Mexican Caribbean since I was a child. Seeing coral reefs die and turtles being damaged by plastic really touched me. Ocean is their home and it is where life began about four billion years ago.
I’m not saying that we are stronger than nature, but we definitely are altering nature’s course. In my opinion, creative minds are today’s entrepreneurs minds… Minds that are always working, thinking, creating, evolving…
Going back to the subject “LIFE” — what’s life? Hard to give a simple answer, huh? To me, life is the energy moving, a reaction, physics, evolution. If the style inspiration seems so clear in your works, to which extent you would find a link between real life and the paintings, whether any? The link to the real life, well it all depends on the viewer, it’s all a perspective, my art is completely inspired by life. you will see what you want to see, what you are prepared to see.
Chaos, beauty, abstraction, reality, and by reality I mean creeks getting contaminated by mine holes, glaciers retroceding to the high-temperature rises, endangered species. In my current work at my studio, you would see paintings with subjects on religion, dreams, travel and nature. Sculptures with seeds, glass, crystals and others made completely out of trash found at the beach where I live part time. Those are still in process.
Some pieces can be quite representative while others more abstract. The truth is that I see life in geometrical shapes and colors. Maybe it’s my math studies — I was 3 classes short to get a math bachelor or maybe it’s my interest on sacred geometry and astronomy. I don’t know… but I believe the viewer can make a connection on the general form of the piece and compare/connect to real life.
Creating art on the go, while you travel, seems something you like doing. Still, you apparently do not transpose this passion on your works. Is there a reason behind this choice (if it’s a choice)?
When I’m on the go I mostly work with markers and paper and I bring along the adventures quartz that I later use to create my sculptures and installations.
In the greatest momentum of digital art, with massified means of communication and easy access to any form of artistic expression, how do you see yourself in the future?
I like to collaborate and cross paths with other creatives, I have collaborated with Basia Ireland from the USA and SIGMASIX from Switzerland in the past so I hope to see a lot more of this happening.
I also see myself still working hands-on. I do not see myself going 100% digital I think there’s magic on the artist touch.
I’m a landscape architect as well, this is my other passion, I’ve had the pleasure of working with major firms in the US and Mexico where we have designed high-end hotels and urban settings, so I see a lot of urban and land art/designs and, hopefully, some of the designs in the future will be under my name, but, for now, I’m learning from today’s masters.
I have a dream to create magical spaces where people can interact, get inspired, feel relaxed, happy and full of energy. I want to create spaces where they feel safe and motivated to create memories. It could be a residential area, urban setting, park, community, resort or something similar to that. The beauty of this career is its flexibility of adaptation.
2015 Endangered Species has been an impactful manifesto of environment-friendly consciousness. To which extent do you think an artist should be the vehicle of social and ideological messages?
We, artists, are the recorders of today’s life, we are what society/humanity have created, what we create has to be timeless and able to capture and portray in the future about how we are living and what influences we had.
I believe a good artist excels at this, so it’s my everyday job to capture today’s life so the future can understand us a little bit better.
Art has influenced people’s mind for a long time, think of Nazi, US, Russian propaganda, art was a big part of it, and still is a strong tool on many governmental moves.
So why not use art for a positive move? I suppose that if more artist would focus on today’s issues we could potentially change the world, #artforchange, a simple, peaceful approach that can potentially touch many.
Endangered Species, for example, became a children’s coloring book. The goal was to foment awareness and cultivate creativity. To me, this was huge, because in this an “iPad Era” and it’s hard to get them interested in coloring, but the animals and intricate design caught their attention and now it’s being used by some teachers in Switzerland.
I believe that if you can touch a children’s heart he/she will always remember that. An Adult coloring set came after, and it seems to work and help them to relax as well.
This series was a completely different approach to my last artworks. I love to see people interact with the images and take the time to color them, and read about their habitats, diets, and easy ways to help save their environments.
In my last show in Geneva, Switzerland, 10 species were exposed, and 5 installations took place, but that was just the beginning. There are a new endangered species every day, around 44,000 nowadays and even if I could draw one each day, I could not finish them by age 100… fortunately, I’m not the only one in this revolution.
You have experimented substantially with materials and shapes, what is the next step in your creative path?
More experimentation, in this super-technological world you have to keep evolving so I’m starting to cross paths with physics and electronics, and I’m also experimenting with natural pigments, leaves and other recycle materials. Currently, I am studying biomimicry. I have a feeling that something good is on its way.
Inspirational traits are so evident in every collection that the overall works seem to pertain to different authors. Should you define your own mood and how would you do it?
Material possessions are something that had really never affected me. By age 18 I’ve lived in 30 homes… Many times leaving everything behind with exception of a suitcase. Moving it is something I have been doing my whole life. I have developed a curiosity to travel from the young age. I am a chameleon wherever I go. I tend to blend in easily. Many artists develop ¨style¨ and marry it for the rest of their lives while other like to experiment. Well, I like to evolve and keep experimenting.
I believe my past artwork reflects who I was, how I was living, learning, experiencing at that moment when I was creating it. I like to think of it as a period (like Picassos blue period, for example).
This is something very interesting. I understand what you are saying, this is something I have also considered, but I came to the conclusion that art has to keep evolving so I don’t want to ¨marry¨ any style or mood, I like to let it be what it wants to become.
