Ricardo Maldonado is an incredible painter, who uses nature as inspiration for his art. He enjoys the challenge of painting the outdoors in different season and different times of day. ArtVenue wanted to get to know get to know the artist behind these beautiful paintings!

Magnolias on Blue

Home is where the heart is-where is home for you?
I’m originally from Spain so that’s part of my home. But I also have spent many years in the US and that is where my other home is. In fact I have two homes. I’m from the south part of Spain, a place in Malaga, Spain.
How and when did you discover yourself to be an artist?

I studied painting when I was a child, then I stopped, only later I had some more time to start painting. For me it’s more of a hobby than anything else. It’s something I love and is something that makes me feel really relaxed. It’s a wonderful activity. I don’t really consider myself to be a professional artist. I think I’m an amateur artist if you like to call it that and I’m still learning.

Spring

What are a few things on your artistic bucket list?

I would like to try more abstract paintings. It’s much harder than one thinks to do abstract. I’m trying to evolve more towards abstraction than realistic. So that is one of the things I would like to do. I would like to create a series of painting of Venice. I just came back from Venice and it is a wonderful place and almost every artist has done something with Venice.
Do you have a favorite “big city” that’s given you the most eye opening and influential artistic moments in your life?
Well, Venice to me was an amazing place because there is art everywhere you look. So that really was quite an experience. But then cities don’t normally inspire me. I think nature to me is more inspiring than cities. More like small villages. I feel more attracted to them.

After the Storm

Where did you learn the skills and gain the knowledge you, as an artist, possess today?
I think I learned by looking at other people who are much better than me. I learn by looking at the masterpieces in museums; Picasso, Matisse, all the impressionist. I mean you learn by just looking at those beautiful paintings. Not that I’m going to replicate any of them, but you realize many things how they are done and how many layers of painting they have.

Where do you gather and/or seek your inspiration from?
Normally from nature and the countryside. To me it’s it very interesting to do the same place; like a river or a forest, in different times of the day, different times of the year, light, rain, sun, all of that. The very same place can look very different depending how you look at it and when you look at it.

Spring Time

Do you have a favorite piece on ArtVenue, whether it’s yours or someone else’s?

There are many good artist on ArtVenue. I haven’t had time to look at them all. My favorite pieces of mine, I don’t have them anymore. They are sold. In some ways it’s sad and some ways it’s nice. To me every piece is important, it’s like a child.
Are there any projects you are working on right now that you can’t wait to finish and share?

Right now I’m painting a large painting about 24” by 40”, something like that. It’s a landscape and there are all trees. It’s not coming out exactly the way I want it. It’s supposed to a be a forest in a dark environment and you can see some light getting through the trees. So the background is dark and there is some light coming out through it.

Nightfall at the Lake

When you’re in a spell of artistic frenzy, what would a fly on the wall see/hear you doing/saying?

If you come to my place and watch me paint, you notice the music first of all. All kinds of music, like classical or jazz. It depends on my mood. And then you will see all different kinds of paints around, different colors. I have an easel and lots of light. I’m moving around. I might get close to the painting and then move around it. I might change the location of the painting, have more light or less light. It’s an exercise. I stand up, I sit down. I change the music or change the light.

What is some advice you could give to budding artists, hopeful to make a name for themselves or looking to build a portfolio?
First of all, keep painting. I know people who are very good but they don’t do it often and if they did it more often, they would become great. Don’t give up. I always have something hanging. I have an exhibit up at Harvard University. It’s very important to have something somewhere, at least a few paintings. Always something hanging where people can see them. If they are in your basement or attic then nobody looks at them. Keeping looking, keep learning. The internet is a wonderful source. That’s how I found ArtVenue. It would be helpful to have a presence on the internet, if you have your pictures somewhere where people can look at them or leave you comments. I use Flickr most of the time but there are many sites; Facebook and Twitter. You have to have a presence because if people Google your name, they will find something, They will have some place to look at. It’s important, Most of all, have fun.

New show opening at Gallery 321 in Somerville. “Fabricating Realities” by Danielle Festa is a show that displays traditional oil paintings combined with fabrics to emphasize clothing. The show starts December 1st and runs through December 22. You can visit the show Saturdays 12-4pm and by appointment. Click here for more details.

Regina Valluzzi uses her background in polymer science as a focus for her art. Her abstract concepts are normally created through paintings, drawings and mixed media art. Each piece of art show a complexity to them yet are still fun and colorful. ArtVenue wanted to show you the artist behind these wonderful paintings!

Engineering

Home is where the heart is-where is home for you?

I live in Arlington. I use to live on the Medford/Somerville line and in Cambridge for a while. I grew up in New York and I went to school here (Boston). Then I went back to New York and worked in the chemical industry for years. I then went to grad school in western Massachusetts in Amherst, doing polymers. Then I came back here for my Post Doc. I actually started up a nano technology company after that and when that bust, I was doing some consulting and then started doing more art.

What are a few things on your artistic bucket list?
Being able to make a decent living at this but I’m making steady progress in that direction. I don’t really have an artistic bucket list. The only bucket list I really made had to do with science. I’m never going to space but I knocked off most of the other ones. I got to play with a big electron microscope so I’m a happy camper. Everything else on there was bonus. There are things that I’d like get more press and get into more serious museum shows but that’s a progression of things. I wouldn’t call that a bucket list. It’s more just stay focused and whacking away at it until it gives.

Transduction

Do you have a favorite “big city” that’s given you the most eye opening and influential artistic moments in your life?
-New York City, just in general and not even just the big museums. You know, you go down into the neighborhoods and there are all these weird little quirky things all over the place and quirky people, people who open up their studios. It’s just unique and everything is tolerated. What I’ve been finding though is that when I’m in national and international shows where there are artists from all over the country or all over the world there are a disproportion number coming from Massachusetts and from Boston and if you look at the number and the quality, we seem to be beating New York. So there is something going on right here. It’s an interesting time to be working in Boston.

Where did you learn the skills and gain the knowledge you, as an artist, possess today?
In terms of just the technical skills, drawing and painting, when I was really little, like five or six years old. I remember my dad use to explain colors and color mixing to me and how paint works. It was so constant and at a constant low level that I didn’t even realize I was learning anything. I did take a couple of class while I was at MIT but over at the Museum School because MIT does not have, or did not have anything in the studio arts. They had courses for the School of Architecture and Visual Studies but it’s a lot of art history and a lot of architecture and some really basic classes like life drawing. Then in terms of what informs my work, I would have to say that my PhD in Polymer Science or all the strange things because I worked electron microscopy and a lot of that is image processing, image analysis, image capture. So I learned a lot of basic photographic skills and a lot of digital image working skills that have been useful to me to this day and certainly there has been an influence from what I saw there and in my work.

State of Density

Are there any projects you are working on right now that you can’t wait to finish and share?
There is one that I am working on that I am about 60 percent of the way through and can’t wait to finish. It’s this mixed media, tree of life series. So I’m looking at trees for symbols of everything that has that sort of network activity and then turning that around and looking at trees as symbols of what’s happening to the ecology. I’m mixing paper mache, little pieces of metal and glasses lens. Theres another one that I have been gathering materials for and talking with a potential collaborator who is a LED light artist. I have these huge boxes of surplus lens and he has all these LEDs and fiber optics and these translucent plastic panels. I thought it might be fun to do a 2D to 3D sculpture. We are sort of building the lens that act functionally.
What is some advice you could give to budding artists, hopeful to make a name for themselves or looking to build a portfolio?
There is a lot of untested advice out there. If you are reading a lot of advice and it doesn’t quiet jive with what you personally have seen in your ventures out, just ignore it. Even if it’s repeated by 50 million different people and it’s all over the internet and being hailed as the greatest artist advice or the greatest art advice the world as ever seen. It’s just a game of telephone for a lot of it. Most people don’t test it. So do your won testing and find other people who are testing their ideas about how to get their work out there, how to get people to see it, who are the right people to show their artwork to start developing a cliental and what works for them. When you see lots and lots of advice, test it. If it doesn’t seem to be quite working, it’s not you, it’s the advice.

Recently, Sotheby has been accused of hiding information that a Cambodian statue had been stolen from a temple back in the 1970s. Sotheby claims that the statue was not a cultural property because it belonged to a religious site. Sotheby is denying the allegations that they covered up information proving that the statue was stolen. When Sotheby planned on auctioning it off March 2011, Cambodia asked for the statue back. It may have been stolen back during the civil war in Cambodia in the 1970s. For more information on this intriguing topic, the New York Times wrote an article. Click here to read it.

Lisa Keresi is to talk at Mass Art, November 27. She is part of the Photography Lecture Series. Lisa Keresi is an incredible photographer whose work has been show in numerous art galleries and museums. This event will be held from 2-3pm at Mass Art Tower in the auditorium. For more information, click here.

The School of the Museum of FIne Arts is having its annual art sale! There will be all different types of art work for sale and the best part is that half of the money goes to scholarships for students who attend SMFA.That art sale takes place at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Thursday Nov. 29 to Sunday Dec. 2. It will be open 10am to 8pm. For more information visit click here. So go out and support our local artists!

A new show called Getting There is opening at Logan Airport Friday, Nov. 16. This show is based off of the different designs that went into the evolution of traveling. This exhibit is by Design Museum Boston and if you would like to read more about it you click here. If you are already a member, you can attend the reception happening on Thursday, Nov, 15th at 6:30 pm. Make sure to RSVP!

Artist: William Currie

Artist: Romina Diaz-Brarda

New art show up at WorkBar featuring four ArtVenue artists. Check out their artists page by clicking their names: William Currie, Romina Diaz-Brarda, Jillian Fortin, and Nicole Martinez.

Artist: Jillian Fortin

Artist: Nicole Martinez

Vlatka Horvat will be having a show at the Boston University Art Gallery. This installation show is based off of the decor of the Boston University Art Gallery as well as material around the area. This industrial-like installation opens Friday, November 9th and ends Thursday, December 20th, 2012. The gallery is opened Tuesday- Friday 10am- 5pm and Saturday-Sunday 1pm- 5pm. Visit www.bu.edu/art for directions.