RAYMOND PEÑA
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"The spiritual and the rational are polar concepts we all grapple with on a personal level. My work invites viewers to reflect on their own relationship to this spectrum within the work."
Raymond Peña is a Spanish artist living and painting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His artwork employs a range of materials and styles and draws inspiration from his previous career as an Advertising Art Director in New York City and the stunning landscape of his home in the Southwest.
Tell us about yourself and your background.
I am a Spanish artist living and painting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was born in Belen, New Mexico, south of Albuquerque, to parents who were direct descendants of the first Spaniards to settle in the southwest in the 1600s. After growing up on a farm in New Mexico, working as a Draftsman for Sandia National Laboratory, serving as an illustrator in the US Army, studying at Art Center College of Design in California, and working for advertising agencies such as J. Walter Thompson and BBDO on Madison Avenue in New York City, I found myself pulled back to the beautiful landscape of New Mexico. I am moved by the terrain and the culture around me, and want to produce paintings that move the viewers.
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Tell us about your work.
Drawing inspiration from a full and varied life, my paintings range in subjects, materials, and styles. I work primarily in acrylics, but delve in watercolors, charcoal drawings, oil pastels, mixed media, and digital works. I stay open with my artwork – sometimes painting representational depictions, then hard-edge abstraction, and even loose expressionist paintings. This keeps my work fresh, free, creative, and fun.
What is unique about your work?
I let my diverse life experiences inform my paintings, juxtaposing the spiritual with the mathematical and technical. My strict Catholic upbringing informs the appearance of crosses in my work – as reference to religion and to history, but also with a formal interest in the design. My experience drafting and doing mechanical drawing influence my geometric, hard edge paintings. The spiritual and the rational are polar concepts we all grapple with on a personal level. My work invites viewers to reflect on their own relationship to this spectrum within the work.
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"I let my diverse life experiences inform my paintings, juxtaposing the spiritual with the mathematical and technical."
Tell us about where you are based and how it influences your work.
I live in a multicultural state where Spanish, Native American and Anglo influences exist simultan-eously. Motifs from these cultures appear often in my work, and the varying aesthetics inspire me. I'm drawn to the unique New Mexico landscapes, chiles, ristas, the sun, churches, crosses, Mexican food, and adobe buildings. New Mexico is my home and I love this land.
What are your sources of inspiration?
My connection to the spiritual leads me to create both abstract and non-representational art.
I look at images and patterns and textures that I see in nature, in photographs, in animals, in shadows and in clothing. I am drawn to things that line up, straight lines, cubes, and geometric forms of all types. Contemporary architectural shapes as exemplified by Philip Johnson and Frank Gehry inspire me, as does the Ocean Park series by Richard Diebenkorn.
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Tell us about some of your achievements.
I am proud to be a first-generation college graduate who has remained committed to the creation of contemporary art for many decades. Being an artist is not something that was expected of my generation, but having felt called to it, I built my life around it. I was a founding member of the Santa Fe Contemporary Art Gallery, followed by a solo show of my paintings. In the New Mexico State Fair Hispanic Art shows, I have been recently awarded 2nd place in Watercolors (2019), 2nd place in Pastels (2018), 1st place Mixed Media + 2nd place Acrylics (2017). My paintings were recently exhibited at the Albuquerque City Hall, and are currently on display at the University of New Mexico Hospital and at the Roma Cafe. Every artwork I create is an achievement, as they are each worlds that I imagine and build that did not exist before.
Tell us about some of your achievements.
I am proud to be a first-generation college graduate who has remained committed to the creation of contemporary art for many decades. Being an artist is not something that was expected of my generation, but having felt called to it, I built my life around it. I was a founding member of the Santa Fe Contemporary Art Gallery, followed by a solo show of my paintings. In the New Mexico State Fair Hispanic Art shows, I have been recently awarded 2nd place in Watercolors (2019), 2nd place in Pastels (2018), 1st place Mixed Media + 2nd place Acrylics (2017). My paintings were recently exhibited at the Albuquerque City Hall, and are currently on display at the University of New Mexico Hospital and at the Roma Cafe. Every artwork I create is an achievement, as they are each worlds that I imagine and build that did not exist before.
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"Every artwork I create is an achievement, as they are each worlds that I imagine and build that did not exist before."
Share with us the back-story of some of your projects.
I like to work instinctually and am often surprised by images that I create. Several years ago I found crosses appearing in my paintings. Rather than a direct religious meaning, I believe these symbolize a part of my youth and connection with family, having been raised in a Spanish Catholic family. When I realized this, I wanted to explore the symbol of the cross further, and began making physical crosses out of weathered wood, tin, copper, turquoise and other found objects. To this day, I continue incorporating crosses into my paintings, often as representational depictions of churches with crosses. I am moved by their appearance within abstract works, and welcome the varied interpretations viewers may have of the symbol in my artwork.
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"I want the viewer of my art to sense that it has been done honestly with a free mind and a true expression of my authentic self."
Tell us about your upcoming projects.
I remain open to wherever my spirit moves me. Rather than being led by plans and timelines, I work to stay present to create work that responds to my life and things that may be happening around me.
How you want your art to affect the viewer/ world?
I believe art can create an empathetic dialogue between the artist and the viewer. I want the viewer of my art to sense that it has been done honestly with a free mind and a true expression of my authentic self. I hope they feel the freedom and creative spirit by the variety of images and by the media used to create, and I hope that sense of freedom impacts how they live their own lives.
www.raymondpena.artspan.com
Tell us about your upcoming projects.
I remain open to wherever my spirit moves me. Rather than being led by plans and timelines, I work to stay present to create work that responds to my life and things that may be happening around me.
How you want your art to affect the viewer/ world?
I believe art can create an empathetic dialogue between the artist and the viewer. I want the viewer of my art to sense that it has been done honestly with a free mind and a true expression of my authentic self. I hope they feel the freedom and creative spirit by the variety of images and by the media used to create, and I hope that sense of freedom impacts how they live their own lives.
www.raymondpena.artspan.com
