Location: Negro Claro
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
CARDBOARD MADDNESS ... and its reasons ...
Since the Puerto Rican day parade and Cardboards, I been obsess with markers and sketching, in an absurd way. Frequent art shows, and all carry have been cardboard. Now not many people would buy them so have been drawing and giving them out. On July 20th, up in Washington Heights I will be drawing on card boards and given them out to whom ever wants them. The event starts from 4pm, and ends at 10pm. Its a dance program with live art, host by Maury Matos from the 55 Crew that he represents.
Location: Negro Claro
Location: Negro Claro
Painted Live once again at the Love Save Japan , on 42nd street!
I so enjoy helping others, an in a special way using my art to help make another person happy and also helping out a cause!
Paint Balling 2012 Quick review!
Not much to say, but delighted to share with you some pictures of the experience:
Collaborated with Monstrinho from California, who also helped me by participating in an art project had invasion , called The Artist Process, held n 5 Pointz Queens.
We painted together at a dance showcase that featured Live art as well. Together Monstrinho and I worked on the following piece: Now showcase at a show near where I live in Harlem, until June 30th.
Hope you like it
We painted together at a dance showcase that featured Live art as well. Together Monstrinho and I worked on the following piece: Now showcase at a show near where I live in Harlem, until June 30th.
Hope you like it
Since march 2012 My life went upside down in a domestic disruption. Everything since then has gotten better. From those rough moments of my life was able to progress in the most beautiful way, with art. I want to share with you some Updates to my most recent art adventures :
The Puerto Rican Day Parade, that was held June 9th on 5th avenue Manhattan.
I was considered by Adrian Viajero Roman, a fellow art friend and dope artist as well, invited me to help him with his art project for "Camaradas"; a local bar in East Spanish Harlem. The Camaradas team had an awesome vision to help educate the public and their community about fallen heroes and their ancestors by holding large portraits of each hero. I helped by making the portraits, as the entire Camaradas team walked through 5 avenue with so much pride!
The experience was one that I can never forget. Every time I started sketching the faces into the cardboard, I felt as if they were staring back at me. Now I sketched many things and people as well as animals before, but this experience was nothing that I can compare to. After finalizing the finishing touch onto each piece, again there was a sense of a silence and a looking back feeling that came about me, every time looking into my art work. I assure you I don't know how this, or why this eve occur.
Below I will post the remainder of all the images and the end results of the art work, I do hope you like them as much as enjoyed making them.
The Puerto Rican Day Parade, that was held June 9th on 5th avenue Manhattan.
I was considered by Adrian Viajero Roman, a fellow art friend and dope artist as well, invited me to help him with his art project for "Camaradas"; a local bar in East Spanish Harlem. The Camaradas team had an awesome vision to help educate the public and their community about fallen heroes and their ancestors by holding large portraits of each hero. I helped by making the portraits, as the entire Camaradas team walked through 5 avenue with so much pride!The experience was one that I can never forget. Every time I started sketching the faces into the cardboard, I felt as if they were staring back at me. Now I sketched many things and people as well as animals before, but this experience was nothing that I can compare to. After finalizing the finishing touch onto each piece, again there was a sense of a silence and a looking back feeling that came about me, every time looking into my art work. I assure you I don't know how this, or why this eve occur.
Below I will post the remainder of all the images and the end results of the art work, I do hope you like them as much as enjoyed making them.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Whats New since 2012 ...... RECAP
January rolls on by with great friends, ready to embark in a new journey over seas to India. I was schedule to participate in a week worth of live art and as well discover India . (I didn't go, that story is a long one ).
February swings by and the art shows shows gets better. Below are the many photos thus far of the many shows and activities I participated in:
February swings by and the art shows shows gets better. Below are the many photos thus far of the many shows and activities I participated in:
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
A Chance to win... need your VOTE
A Chance to paint live and win..
A Chance to Win a show to then travel...
A chance to Win in a NYC battle to then Travel to Europe and REPRESENT the United States!
Being Latina, being from Harlem.... I will Represent us very well... ad I ask you for your help to make this reality a true one.
Go to this link and Click on me. ~ Marthalicia Matarrita
http://artbattles.com/vote
All Artist at this site are all worthy.... if you dont pick me its ok,,.....at least art is being represented and that what matters the most!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL
Monday, January 2, 2012
The Uptown Collective, ' I was Interviewed inDecember 2011, as an Artist from UPTOWN" the very first TIME !!!
This is the LINK to the website, interviewer was LED BLACK
http://www.uptowncollective.com/2011/12/21/uptown-artist-marthalicia-matarrita/
Photo below by: Gigi Bio
Here how it went:
BY Led Black (@Led_Black)
Q. How has growing up Uptown influenced your art work?
A. Growing up in Uptown Manhattan, has influenced my art, and it started with music. I remember being young and watching Video Music Box with Uncle Ralph McDaniels. Ralph McDaniels was a Hip-Hop pioneer that documented the NYC scene in the mid 1980′s. During this era, Hip-Hop was so profound that it also infiltrated the Graffiti culture. Being born in Uptown Manhattan, wasn’t as peachy as most people thought during this time period. Alongside the incredible music there was a lot of violence, robberies, and the obvious struggle to work hard to barely make it the next day.
Growing up, Uptown, and seeing all the chaos among the youth, such as youth pregnancies, the drug pushers, and the drug abusers; it placed a lot of weight on my soul, especially being so young.
What kept the neighborhood somewhat at peace and as well to me, was music. I can’t forget the Graffiti “Black Books” that were the prized possessions of my peers at the Roberto Clemente High School on 133rd Street and Broadway. Viewing these books, for the very first time I then realized that my doodling really was as important as these art works in these pages. I felt a connection holding these books, a purpose, and this “drive” grew bigger more so with the added stress from living in the hood, having a dysfunctional family because of alcoholism, the mental deterioration of my mother and eventually living in the shelter system in Harlem for a large portion of my life. You can say Uptown held me hostage and what broke me free was ART.
The Harlem School of the Arts, on 141st Street on Saint Nicolas Ave, aided in my focus on the arts. If it wasn’t for that program I would have been devastated or in the streets. Plus the YMCA on 135th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and Lenox Ave, was a huge positive outlet. There I did Aikido for 6 years. It too saved me from the streets.
Q. Your pictures have this amazing vibrancy, can you go explain your creative process.
A. Having a comic book/Graff line works influenced from Graffiti black books, I had sharpened those primary skills and utilized them as well as blending it with fine arts. I attempt to blend urban influences with that of the paintbrush and find the harmony in the two. I do owe a lot to my high school La Guardia High school of Performance in the Arts, there I found out more about art and the many artists that came before me. I then mimicked their ways to help amplify my language through imagery, such artists as Gustav Klimt, Kevin Beacon, Salvador Dahli and my favorite, the female Latina painter, Frida Khalo.
My creative process stemmed from collecting all these practices from traditional artists methods and techniques, and utilize them through my current art timeline. The very first step in making a Marthalicia painting, is finding what I want to say. The Second step is either sketching out my art conversation with a “quick sketch” or I simply can “freestyle” it on the spot. The “to sketch or don’t sketch” method, really depends on the mood and or the how I want to relay my art information. The Third step is to design my subject matter through markers or paint, sketch out as I would on a sketch pad, then map out all the possible highlight spots on the figure(s) or form. The Fourth step is finding the negative space and compliment it with whatever color fits the mood, blending in the highlights and the background and finalizing the entire painting as a whole.
Q. You were many hats, what are some of them?
A. Growing up I never foresaw the many roles I would eventually have. What drove me to further my art was my family. My role differs from person to person, such as; a daughter to a struggling mother, and an alcoholic father (now recovered) as well a sister to two supportive brothers. The desire to continue in the arts made me enlist as a soldier in the Army National Guard, which helped me to become a college student through the G.I. Bill. Painting became more important to me in college and that is the time when I became a mother. All those roles are equally important; all are genuine and had a huge impact on me. With being a mother comes huge responsibilities, one that I am enjoying each day, and this role means so much to me.
Q.How would you describe yourself as an artist?
A. I have been asked this question before, and I still can’t answer it, because my artistry changes as I grow and live my life. I am an artist that channels what I see around me and makes a conversation about how myself and others fit into it.
Q. Is there anything else you would like our audience to know about you or your work?
My participation in the arts has led me to great discoveries about self, and the world around me. I often find myself not really understood even by my family and extended family circles. I have been tremendously criticized for being a little too “non Hispanic”. In order to make sense of this to myself, I picked up the camera and started documenting the lives of those that follow the path of the artist. Since 2009, I have made art documentaries. The first was called, The Artist Process, and now I’ve made mini documentaries called “Art Episodes” in order to celebrate artist at what they do.
You can find me at:
My art blog,
http://marthaliciaart.blogspot.com/
http://about.me/marthalicia
We invite you to like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter, or e-mail us at UptownCollective@gmail.com.
http://www.uptowncollective.com/2011/12/21/uptown-artist-marthalicia-matarrita/
Photo below by: Gigi Bio
Here how it went:
Uptown Artist – Marthalicia Matarrita
BY Led Black (@Led_Black)
Q. How has growing up Uptown influenced your art work?
A. Growing up in Uptown Manhattan, has influenced my art, and it started with music. I remember being young and watching Video Music Box with Uncle Ralph McDaniels. Ralph McDaniels was a Hip-Hop pioneer that documented the NYC scene in the mid 1980′s. During this era, Hip-Hop was so profound that it also infiltrated the Graffiti culture. Being born in Uptown Manhattan, wasn’t as peachy as most people thought during this time period. Alongside the incredible music there was a lot of violence, robberies, and the obvious struggle to work hard to barely make it the next day.
Growing up, Uptown, and seeing all the chaos among the youth, such as youth pregnancies, the drug pushers, and the drug abusers; it placed a lot of weight on my soul, especially being so young.
What kept the neighborhood somewhat at peace and as well to me, was music. I can’t forget the Graffiti “Black Books” that were the prized possessions of my peers at the Roberto Clemente High School on 133rd Street and Broadway. Viewing these books, for the very first time I then realized that my doodling really was as important as these art works in these pages. I felt a connection holding these books, a purpose, and this “drive” grew bigger more so with the added stress from living in the hood, having a dysfunctional family because of alcoholism, the mental deterioration of my mother and eventually living in the shelter system in Harlem for a large portion of my life. You can say Uptown held me hostage and what broke me free was ART.
The Harlem School of the Arts, on 141st Street on Saint Nicolas Ave, aided in my focus on the arts. If it wasn’t for that program I would have been devastated or in the streets. Plus the YMCA on 135th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and Lenox Ave, was a huge positive outlet. There I did Aikido for 6 years. It too saved me from the streets.
Q. Your pictures have this amazing vibrancy, can you go explain your creative process.
A. Having a comic book/Graff line works influenced from Graffiti black books, I had sharpened those primary skills and utilized them as well as blending it with fine arts. I attempt to blend urban influences with that of the paintbrush and find the harmony in the two. I do owe a lot to my high school La Guardia High school of Performance in the Arts, there I found out more about art and the many artists that came before me. I then mimicked their ways to help amplify my language through imagery, such artists as Gustav Klimt, Kevin Beacon, Salvador Dahli and my favorite, the female Latina painter, Frida Khalo.
My creative process stemmed from collecting all these practices from traditional artists methods and techniques, and utilize them through my current art timeline. The very first step in making a Marthalicia painting, is finding what I want to say. The Second step is either sketching out my art conversation with a “quick sketch” or I simply can “freestyle” it on the spot. The “to sketch or don’t sketch” method, really depends on the mood and or the how I want to relay my art information. The Third step is to design my subject matter through markers or paint, sketch out as I would on a sketch pad, then map out all the possible highlight spots on the figure(s) or form. The Fourth step is finding the negative space and compliment it with whatever color fits the mood, blending in the highlights and the background and finalizing the entire painting as a whole.
Q. You were many hats, what are some of them?
A. Growing up I never foresaw the many roles I would eventually have. What drove me to further my art was my family. My role differs from person to person, such as; a daughter to a struggling mother, and an alcoholic father (now recovered) as well a sister to two supportive brothers. The desire to continue in the arts made me enlist as a soldier in the Army National Guard, which helped me to become a college student through the G.I. Bill. Painting became more important to me in college and that is the time when I became a mother. All those roles are equally important; all are genuine and had a huge impact on me. With being a mother comes huge responsibilities, one that I am enjoying each day, and this role means so much to me.
Q.How would you describe yourself as an artist?
A. I have been asked this question before, and I still can’t answer it, because my artistry changes as I grow and live my life. I am an artist that channels what I see around me and makes a conversation about how myself and others fit into it.
Q. Is there anything else you would like our audience to know about you or your work?
My participation in the arts has led me to great discoveries about self, and the world around me. I often find myself not really understood even by my family and extended family circles. I have been tremendously criticized for being a little too “non Hispanic”. In order to make sense of this to myself, I picked up the camera and started documenting the lives of those that follow the path of the artist. Since 2009, I have made art documentaries. The first was called, The Artist Process, and now I’ve made mini documentaries called “Art Episodes” in order to celebrate artist at what they do.
You can find me at:
My art blog,
http://marthaliciaart.blogspot.com/
http://about.me/marthalicia
We invite you to like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter, or e-mail us at UptownCollective@gmail.com.
The End of 2011 REVIEW: Thank you all who Joined me n this Life Art Journey!
From Music Videos, To meeting celebrities in Utah, to even meeting and connecting with awesome people through these past few years...
I Thank you all!
From, Painting in Brooklyn with F.O.K.U.S., doing art episodes for: Crystal Clarity, Caribbean Culture Center, Art Battles, and Fundraiser for Kevin Powell, to even Sell odd art goodies with Ladies Love Project, must say I had a blast! Now I have reconnected with some great folks uptown in Washington heights and I owe that to Paola Dominican Pie!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
