Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebeca Sanchez.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My dad was the one that sparked my interest in drawing. Back when I was in 3rd grade, I had a lot of book reports. Many of them involved a bit of a drawing element to it. I did not know how to draw. Even with a lack of drawing skills, I knew I didn’t want to turn in something horrible. So I asked my dad for help. My mom told me he knew how to, so he completed one of my book reports beautifully. I thought that I could just have him draw everything for me. So when a new book report was assigned, I asked my dad if he could draw one of the characters for me, which was Nancy Drew ice skating. He only drew one of her skates and gave it to me saying, “Draw the rest.” I told him that I didn’t know how to draw. He replied to me saying, “Just draw what you see, it’s not that hard.” So I did. Even though her face looked weird, I was satisfied and thought to myself that I could draw well!
Over the years, I’ve been looking for a class to teach me the basics of drawing, painting, color theory, and history. I would enroll in art classes in the community, but a lot of them were mainly classes for kids. At around 7-8th grade, I was self-taught by looking up drawing tutorials on YouTube. I would think that I was pretty good a drawing, but I knew I had a long way to go. At around my junior year of high school, I met my teacher Renato de Guia who was the one that taught me a lot of the basics of drawing. I would go to the open studio classes and other drawing classes he taught. I really saw myself improve and was glad that I finally found the classes I’ve been searching for.
College was the place that really helped me grow as an artist. Before I started, I knew that art was what I wanted to study. Looking back at my previous work, I could see how much I have improved.
I graduated from California State University of Long Beach with a Drawing and Painting BFA. I am going back to CSULB for the teaching credential program for art.
Has it been a smooth road?
Trying to convince my parents that I wanted to pursue art was tough. When I told my dad that I wanted to be an artist, his immediate response was, “Don’t you want to become a nurse or a doctor?” It was really hard hearing that from him since he was the person that sparked that interest in me. Both my parents were not on board with my decision. I remember being lectured by my dad that art is not the right path to follow. Even though I applied to college for art, my mother said to me,”We will support you in this but I do not like what you are doing. So please make me love art.”
I do understand now where they were coming from. I was born in Mexico and brought here when I was six months. My parents went through a lot of hardships to give my sister and I a good life. Even though they might have wanted me to go for a job with good money, I just couldn’t ignore what I truly wanted to do. I am lucky that today, my parents support me with my career path.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My work is informed by the texture, color and bustling life of the urban cities I grew up in, including those of the present day. I was born in Mexico and moved to Los Angeles when I was six months old. I experienced a clash of cultures in my early life. My upbringing in LA exposed me to the Angelino lifestyle, which contains a multitude of cultures around the world. I am also interested in the improvisational rawness and complexity of the architecture in Mexico, which is in sharp contrast to the highly structured modern buildings of LA.
I create large-scale mixed media drawings in which I utilize a collection of different materials and images gathered from places I have been to. These materials include a variety of tapes, papers, receipts, letters, packages, cardboards, plastics, wires, ink, strings, drawings that come from studies and compositions that combine texture, paint, and text. By layering the materials I have collected, I create a space and then I apply paint to give my composition a more defined structure. Text has been a new addition to my work. I look into the signage and billboards around cities to incorporate into my work, especially from places I visit often.
I see my work as a metaphor and time-lapse for people’s lives, histories of sites and cities. Within the shifting perspectives of the cityscape, I juxtapose a complete and incomplete infrastructure that symbolizes an evidence of place and a person’s life. The morphing of different cultures and architecture bring a global perspective to my work.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Los Angeles is where I grew up. It is the place where I get my inspiration. The art scene here is a big one that revolves a lot with the galleries around the area and its art museums. For someone starting out, one thing that I always hear a lot is to go to many art show openings as you can. It is good to be a familiar face. Being part of an art collective can help you open up the art communities in LA.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://1b1c.weebly.com/
- Phone: (661)916-6816
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1b.1c/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1b1c.art/
Image Credit:
Personal Photo @blueeye__photography
All 7 artwork pictures @1b.1c
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