Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniela Campins.
Hi Daniela, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have been a visual artist for over a decade and my focus is on painting and drawing. As a child that grew up surrounded by art and music, I was intrigued by my family’s artist friends, their lifestyle and ingenuity. Growing up in South America, a career in the visual arts was not an option but I was invested in drawing and crafts and had an innate drive towards these. I also loved architecture, drawing elevation plans and sought a career as an architect. Long story, but as a student I explored a few majors, starting with civil engineering in Venezuela, to architectural drafting here in the US, and briefly wet my feet in illustration and graphic design. I decided to completed a BFA in drawing and painting from Cal State Long Beach where I started as an illustration major. What moved me was the materiality of paint, the dynamic and active surface on a painting, the manner in which paint can be transformed. Later, at UC Santa Barbara I had the time and focus to develop my practice and elaborate my knowledge in art theory and interdisciplinary practices while achieving an MFA. Soon after, I started to teach art at various campuses in Southern California.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As an immigrant woman now living in MacArthur Park area and working in East Los Angeles, I have faced obstacles that have given me the tools to continue my art practice regardless of difficult circumstances. I have held many non-related art jobs including housekeeping, dishwasher, waitress, hostess, bartender and more. I have been fortunate to maintain my art practice thanks to my family and motivation from my artist’s friends who have remained around. Balancing life, a source of income and an art practice have been possible thanks to them and the commitment I had made to my work. I love making art, reading about it, thinking about it, seeing it, learning about its history and how other artists think. Being around art keeps me going.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
In my art practice, I work in painting, drawing, and installation. As a visual artist that grew up surrounded by Latin American culture, my thought processes often respond to the contradictions and idiosyncratic characteristics of my upbringing and immigration to the United States. The subject of my work revolves around the relationship between signs, symbols and abstraction.
In the last few years, I have been working on paintings that are physically layered in its composition and spatial illusion. In these works, I draw lines with paint that describe the contour of recognizable forms or may appear as abstracted doodles. A recent development in my work that stemmed from the abstract doodles is the use of text as a subject in my paintings. This has taken off as a long research project where I appropriate dialogues from Venezuelan soap operas and adapt them through a process of transformation into paintings. To me, they function as disguised social commentary. For the painting process, I like enhancing the line work with materials that create relief on the painted surface in contrast to the background. I usually carve, erase, sand, peel and excavate the layers as I am working. I intend for the surface to feel like a ruin, a long-forgotten memory.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Being part of a community has been integral. My community began during my undergraduate studies and graduate school. As an art student building rapport with my professors and staying in touch was huge and pivotal to my development. I wouldn’t have made it without their encouragement and their lessons on being an artist. Professor and artists Marie Thibeaud, the late Linda A. Day, Fran Siegel and Jane Callister have been very influential. Also, collaborating in projects with others, organizing and supporting them by showing up is a way to give back but also uplifts me as an artist. Los Angeles is an amazing place to be an artist and to see art. Every day, I am inspired by this city, its history and the people that make it Los Angeles.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.danielacampins.com
- Instagram: @danielacampinsstudio
Image Credits
Portrait Photos by Juan Herrera.
