WATCH/HEAR LECTURE HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HJW0aFH8vk
Form & Concept ARTIST INTERVIEW: ANDRÉS MARIO DE VARONA
words by from Form & Concept Gallery:
Unlike most studios, de Varona’s workspace stands outdoors, year-round, completely exposed to the elements in the beautifully brutal Northern New Mexican desert. The studio’s splintering frames and peeling panels are a testament to New Mexico’s harsh environment and de Varona’s dedication to creating visually coherent work, but it also metaphorically references the wear and tear on the human body that is often the subject of de Varona’s photography.
First highlighted by NPR’s photo stories, the ongoing body of work translates the physical and mental conflicts of human life into dramatic, uncanny visual stories that arrest with their graphic and mystifying depictions of the body. Photographs from the series such as Pillar’s Arm show the distortion and toughening of a body battling a degenerative illness. Other images like Shelling depict the body after it has weathered the conflicts of life and emerged victorious.
The series’ raw subject matter forms a group portrait of trauma and growth, but for de Varona, each image also represents a standalone saga. The arm in Pillar’s Arm is that of de Varona’s late friend Aaron Garcia, a spiritual nomad dedicated to living outside among the flora and fauna of New Mexico who was recently murdered. Currently, there are no leads on who the murderer could be. The woman in Shelling is de Varona’s friend Marcia Reifman, an artist and educator who was diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma in 2013. During a 13-hour surgery, surgeons removed more than three-quarters of Marcia’s tongue, permanently altering her speech. Sixty-six radiation treatments and concurrent chemotherapy sessions followed the surgery.
When asked what the TRIALS series is about, de Varona responded, “Victories.” For de Varona, who knows Garcia and Reifman best, their stories of conflict and suffering are hard-fought triumphs. In Garcia’s case, it is a spiritual victory against social expectations surrounding living standards. In Reifman’s case, it is a bodily victory against a malignant disease. Undeniably, Garcia and Reifman’s stories are harrowing tales of human will and perseverance, and while it can be easy to conflate their stories into a universal theme or message of resilience, de Varona encourages us to resist that urge and zero in on the details within the imagery. It is said that the victors write history; TRIALS is an invitation to celebrate the humanity of these lesser-known champions.
From this year’s Emerging Talent entries I have selected Andrés Mario de Varona ‘s project TRIALS for my Juror’s Pick. Andres’ complex photographic images visualize personal challenges brought forth from project subjects including himself on experiencing the pain of loss and the struggle to regain purpose in life.
In this emotionally charged series, his directed collaborative works and self-portraits depict ongoing angst and recovery of both physical and emotional struggles.
- Mary Virginia Swanson
NM-PBS/ KNME-TV
Watch Interview HERE (2023)
Artist Lecture at Boston Univ.
Art & Care: Living with & Beyond Cancer (2023) is a collaborative project exploring cancer experiences as expressed through visual art organized by Boston University professors Robin Newman (SAR) and Toni Pepe (CFA). The initiative will include public lectures and an exhibition.
As part of this initiative, Marcia and I will be presenting our individual and collaborative works. My talk: A Delicate Truth About Being Human, will encompass our self-built outdoor desert studio: the Refuge, our installation practice, movements and secrets, and what it means to be a living memorial as depicted in TRIALS. Marcia will be presenting her tactile series of 66 multimedia pieces representing each day of cancer recovery, the nature of illness, and her life journey up to now.
Watch presentation here: https://www.bu.edu/arts/art-care/
Winner GNF Award: 'What power does the human mind wield over its temporary vessels? This work manifests the invisible strings that bind the corsets of our interactions in an immanently comprehensive way. The strange compositions convey a deeply humbling, delicate truth about being human. Beautifully gruff and with harsh contrasts the pictures manage to poignantly distinct the complicated entanglements of human interactions in powerful and bold monochrome.' Gomma
NPR’s Picture Show
Happy to share a published short story/article I wrote about my relationship with Marcia Reifman, our collaboration, our outdoor desert studio the Refuge and TRIALS.
Miami, FL. City mock-ups, pt. 2
On view at Filter Space
1821 W. Hubbard St., Ste. 207 Chicago | Illinois | 60622
Monday – Saturday, 11 AM – 5 PM
April 1st - 30th, 2022
Miami, FL 2021. City mock-ups. (click images to scroll)
Reclaim Award. Cologne, Germany 2021.
“The photographic work To See Myself Alive by Andres de Varona depicts Marcia Reifman, who was ill with cancer and freed herself from the shadow cast on the light of life by this disease. A liberation with no winners. Human existence and the experiences associated with it, of suffering and mortal fear, healing and ordeal, become the object of de Varona’s motif. The way de Varona succeeds in symbolically realizing this theme is downright “breathtaking”. Everything about this motif draws us into the sunlit soil. Draws us into the psychic shoals that signify confrontation with death. De Varona exhibits an extraordinary, both human and creative understanding for the directness and brutality of these existence-endangering life circumstances.” - Odo Hans
SHOW YOUR WOUNDS. ALL CURED.
In the Midst of Life
Andrés de Varona & Marcia Reifman: A profile by Bethany Tabor
July 07, 2021
International Coordinator Naoya Yoshikawa
Hosted by the Korean Society for Photography Education, [Inviting Exhibitions of Professors and Students, Photographic Imaging, and Art Competitions and Festivals of Art, Culture, and Culture in Korea, China and Japan] will be held.
Period: August 27 (Tue), 2019-September 15 (Sun), 2019 (Closed on Monday)
Participating Countries: 100 universities in 15 countries, including 3 East Asian countries
– Korea, Japan, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Poland, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, Lithuania
OPEN STUDIO EXHIBITION. SHOWING A CULMINATION OF ARTWORKS FROM 2017 TO NOW.
feel free to email me with any questions
Helen Criales, curator’s talk