We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marcos Acosta a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marcos, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

There is not only one meaningful project that I´ve worked on. In a way, every project is meaningful for an artist, because they all contribute to growing and understanding the reasons why you are doing art. But if I have to talk about only one, I choose Origin of The Catastrophe. That project was done between 2007 and 2009, and it was my first big solo show in the main museum of my city of birth, Cordoba (Argentina).
I was working in an extensive series of paintings and drawings during those years, exploring for the very first time, ideas related to our relationship as human beings with nature. That issue was the perfect excuse since that moment on to dig deeper into my own soul, searching for answers that are common to all of us, such as why we are here, what is love, death, life. Universal questions that shape our consciousness and allow us to connect with our inner soul.
That was an exciting moment in my life and career as an artist. Many things were happening in that moment, because I felt I was discovering something that was inside me through those paintings and drawings. I started to explore those ideas using some sort of geometrical shapes that get in conflict with the landscape. I discovered that the Origin of The Catastrophe for us is the fact that we believe we are something divided from nature, that we are here to control it, exploit the resources that earth provides, and so on. The source of our loss is that we don´t realize in our hearts that we are one with all that exists, so we are nature, not an external being that is there to take what we want from nature.
This project was meaningful also because I reached one of the most important museums in Argentina with my work, being very young. It was truly a dream come true, very moving because of the magnitude of that achievement and learning a lot about my practice as an artist and an individual who has things to contribute to his society.

Marcos, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I´m a visual artist, mainly painter, that started at a very young age. When I was 8 or 9 years old, I decided to be an artist, and fortunately, I had the support of my parents and family. Since then, I’ve never stopped, developing a career as an artist for more than 30 years.This kind of profession is special, a bit different from other activities. Maybe the most important difference is that you are an artist 24/7. It´s not possible to leave the studio, go home and forget what you are doing. You are aware of your practice all the time, and if I´m not painting, I´m thinking about painting. It´s a beautiful thing that happens, but also exhausting, because is impossible to disconnect yourself from creativity and work, at least for me.
In a way, my profession is not one to provide services. It´s an activity that seems to be important only for me when I´m doing it, but the magic happens when that product that I create, such as a drawing or a painting, finds someone else who then starts asking questions as a result of viewing that piece of art. It´s a language without words, that can say things that are impossible to put into words. I´m not here as an artist to solve your problems, but to create more inside you. (Laughs)
I´m proud of being able to do this. It´s a whole world of difficuties to be an artist, and the fact that I can do it every day and make a living from it, is something that makes me proud and I´m deeply grateful for that.
You have to know that I consider one of the most complicated things to do today is to create new images that remain in your eye, because we are bombarded all the time with images, since we wake up until we go to sleep. So it´s a huge challenge to be in front of a white canvas and create something new and exciting for others. And to create a piece of art, truly art, of course gets you in another level of difficulty. Because art is something that goes beyond time and space. It must be meaningful not only for people today, but also for people in the future. So, maybe that is the main concern and challenge that I have as an artist: to create something that can avoid fashions and trends, because its source is not the moment, but humanity itself.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Well, that´s an interesting question. I think that it is always related to our ability to share our experiences and create new ties in our community. I always feel that is absolutely rewarding when I can contribute to others and the community where I am, to go up one step further in their union as human beings. It´s very moving for me when I help to create new connections through my work, and help to inspire people in working hard to achieve their goals.
I truly beleive that is what it’s all about: helping others in finding themselves, and through that action, being able to find myself. It´s like a collaborative path, because we are not here alone, to get only what each one wants. We are here together, to experience life with the help and care of others. It’s all about our relationships, which is the main subject of our lives. Relationships with others are a mirror where we can look at our own existence. Maybe that´s the reason that I found it so stimulating to paint about our relationship with nature, because I realized that we are nature, we are a part of everything that exists, and in that sense, if I can find harmony in that relationship, I can find it also with other people and, at the end, with myself. To have that precious opportunity is, for sure, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I have no doubt that is absolutely important to know, from the beginning, that whatever you do, you will always have your own voice, that is entirely genuine and pure. Sometimes that fact is undervaluated by yourself, because when you are starting an artistic career you like other artists and get inspired by them. But, sometimes, you get confused trying to do in your practice what you admire from others. That is natural, and very common. But it is important to realize that your own vision, surely enriched by the vision of others through the years, is what counts for you. To trust in your own vision, your own way to see and interpret the world, is something that I wish all could experience early in their lives, not only in an artistic career.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.marcos-acosta.com
• Instagram: @marcosacosta.studio
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pGRvEWOj3g&t=145s

Image Credits

Rocio Machado, Pablo Martinez