Today we’d like to introduce you to Carlos Grasso.
Hi Carlos, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in the cosmopolitan city of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and since early age was drawn to art, first as a musician and later in life as an artist painter. I started painting under the direction of David Leffel, one of the most influential figurative painters of the past decades; at the time, I was doing still life and some portraits. After years of studying and trying to master those representational techniques, a big change happened in my “visual interests”, I started connecting more with surrealism, abstraction and conceptual art. The transition was made and new experiments and explorations in these fields came naturally.
In my studio in Ojai, California, one encounters a display of torn canvases, found objects and disproportionally big brushes – the tools of this inquisitive mind, telling manifold stories and implements varied techniques.
Over the years, I participated in numerous Museum and Gallery shows: LA Art Show – The Museum of Ventura County – The Santa Paula Museum – Ojai Valley Museum – Art Share L.A. – OCCCA (Orange County Center for Contemporary Arts) – Building Bridges (Santa Monica, LA, Bergamot Station) – San Diego Art Institute, and many more. My collector base spreads throughout the United States.
I usually greet collectors, curators and visitors to my studio with a “welcome to my playground!” My art requires the essential element of play, whether designing my own colorful modern mandalas on paper and canvas, cutting and shredding painted the canvas by hand, or assembling found objects on textured panels. The more I get out of my own way, the more creativity flows unobstructed and strangely enough, the more I control my medium.
Artists—in all branches and disciplines—are the preeminent voice of both the collective and the individual unconscious. Art brings to the surface, to our awareness, all the processes that run deep, embedded, and often silently ignored within. As the ancient philosopher once said, “the unexamined life is not worth living”.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The main struggle of an artist is how we deal with our own artistic self-confidence, knowing when to push forward regardless of many rejections without judging ourselves and continue the work we love to do. We all have the artistic talent latent in us ready to be explored and develop: time, practice and patience are the key ingredients to open those potentials.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
At the moment, I am working on two series, very different from each other. I am still working with the “Canvas Deconstruction” series which was the one that was setting me apart all these past years for its innovative treatment of the canvas, which I slice in very narrow strips which allows me then to manipulate the canvas as a 3D texture on the wall! But also, I am dedicating time to my “Mind Landscapes” series which is an exploration of the ancient mandala art with a new interpretation and new visual techniques. In terms of installations, I am creating an immersive 48ft diameter and 8ft (height) circular room with the Mind Landscapes art for my show at the Studio Channel Islands Gallery in Camarillo.
What makes you happy?
Being in the flow of the moment, free from the tyranny of thoughts and completely surrendered to the act of creating art is the closest definition I can think of what happiness means to me. Why? in that state of freedom there are no self-imposed obstacles, everything is possible.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://carlosgrasso.com/
- Instagram: @carlosgrassoart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carlosgrassoartist
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_P1Jq-9RqhM5kZ2oQwcljg
Image Credits
1 – Colorspace Room Central canvas Panel 2 – Form and Forces 3 – Life in Shreds 4 – My Unframed Life These Days 5 – Frame Free at Last! 6 – Mind Tapestry #3 7 – Mind Tapestry Circle #14 8 – Mind Tapestry – Digital Mandala
