We recently connected with Francisco Pinto and have shared our conversation below.
Francisco, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?
2020 beginning the pandemic, I had a very human gesture from the director of the Mocada African Diaspora Museum in New York, Amy Andrieux, her alliance with the Joan Mitchell Foundation allowed me, together with 14 African-American artists, a grant of $1000, that was very significant for me, the support of an international museum to guarantee my safety, very grateful to God Jehovah for so many gestures of love through people like Amy Andrieux.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
I was born in Caracas Venezuela. Everything started from a family context, my childhood was surrounded by a lot of sensitivity and creativity, starting with my grandfather on my mother’s side who was a goldsmith, my uncle Adrián, a plastic artist who at the time was my mentor on the path of the arts, my father who painted Sometimes, I also worked as a photographer in a Kodak studio, painting was a hobby, photography was a job, my maternal grandmother was a seamstress, that discipline was inherited from my mother, hence its influence on some of my work in textiles. My artistic practice is unprecedented, iconography, graphic signs, appropriation, reinterpretation, representation, play, questions of race and identity are combined, I use non-traditional materials, I mix African and indigenous, Western and pop cultural references. It focuses on the processes that build our identity, including the African component. I do so through an amalgamation of local and global references, fueled by nods to key artists in contemporary art, as well as allusions to popular culture and media-produced content. I mix religious figures, comics, toys and graphics, in a hybrid proposal where I incorporate drawing, painting, collage, digital art, textile art, assembly and installation. In addition, I support the conceptual structure of my research with publications of sociological and historical studies focused on the colonialist relationship of the West with respect to cultures of African origin. It is an eminently personal language, I reinterpret history with my plastic work with an aesthetic closer to pop, I found in the theme of racism and Black history, the link with the history of Latin America that has denied its African influence, I focused on portraying the life of the furtive slave. El Cimarrón as one of the first free characters in America, who remained in resistance for a long time, who throughout history became a legend. The figure of the Cimarron has a lot of symbolic power. I use Native Black history and aesthetics with respect and irreverence, reinterpreting the legacy of slavery as raw material for my art. I use toys and found objects, books, stock photos, superhero and blackface images with more traditional media, my supports and aesthetics are intentionally unfinished, a recurring motif in my work is the bare-toothed smile, the gold teeth, a times shiny. I associate it with the soul of that African whose laughter could not drown out the slave ship, giving him a positive perspective on black people and the black experience, represented in a positive way. The black theme came into my life by chance and had a great impact on what my current work is, producing a language within and through limitations.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Venezuela is one of the best countries in the world, it has been submerged in a social and political crisis for more than 20 years, many Venezuelans have had to break family ties leaving behind their place of origin to migrate to other destinations in search of a better life condition , Venezuelans are very resilient, they stand out wherever they are, personally, regarding the arts in Venezuela I have had to be my own manager, the support is minimal, with effort, sacrifice and perseverance I have managed to achieve national and international for the work of my work, I have Empowered myself in some spaces, added international alliances, those important and necessary supports, social networks are of great help, platforms such as Instagram, africanah.org among others, has allowed me to be visible, to have ties professionals with key international artists in my creative process, also with foundations such as Montresso in Marrakech where I will be working at the end of May 2022 within its facilities in a project to be selected in one of its artistic residences, very grateful also to you Voyage Phoenix for showing me to its readers for the second time, to be able to share part of my recent history, to my allies such as Rob Perree, critic of art and curator, editor of the Africanh platform, Jonathan Square, fashion historian, curator and teacher, Amy Andrieux director of the Mocada Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Art, Soraya Ríos Collector and member of the San Francisco Museum of the African Diaspora, to the Afro-American Museum of Caracas – Venezuela, also very grateful to José Francisco Cantón Architect, museologist and researcher, Itala Scotto writer and researcher, to the Collector and Dentist Pietro Cincotti, to my family and closest friends.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Since I was a child I knew in advance that I wanted to walk the path of the arts, over the years my experience has allowed me to see which path to travel professionally and spiritually, my relationship with artists and key people has allowed me to walk that path, very focused on creating a body of work that lasts over time, it is my greatest concern, as an artist from the Caribbean, to raise my voice from my place of origin to other geographical points, without offending or pointing the finger at anyone, without any of judgments and resentments the story is already written, I do not seek to change it, I only reinterpret it with my plastic work, using the means that are within my reach, those more accessible, I say goodbye with this African proverb: if you walk you will only go faster, if you walk accompanied you will go further. We are working on this to reap the fruits of that labor, to be grateful to those new doors that will open with the blessing of God Jehovah, that without him nothing is possible.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: cimarron09
- Facebook: alexander.pinto.35/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=EtCiE2TsznA - https://artishockrevista.com/
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Image Credits
foto: Francisco Pinto