Antonio Rivera, Self Portrait, monotype

December 10, 2006
A Conversation in 4 Questions with Antonio Rivera
by Constance Pappalardo @ 6:17 am.Edit This Filed under Interview

Pappalardo:
Having looked at some of your work from the late 60's through the 70's, I am curious to ask you…:

Were these created in New York and what was the art scene like back then? Would you say that it has changed much?
And now…. having moved to North Carolina, what was your impression of the art scene here? Back then and toady? How have things changed?
And personally; how have you changed as an artist and as a man?
December 10, 2006
A Conversation in 4 Questions with Antonio Rivera
by Constance Pappalardo @ 6:17 am.Edit This Filed under Interview

Rivera:
Yes, I began my career in New York City. Some of my initial artist friends were pioneers in the opening up of Soho as an art district. When they moved into Soho, and I made forays into the area, loft living was illegal. In 197l I had a legal A.I.R (artist in residence, a special exception in afew buildings) loft on Centre St. Later I lived in a storefront on Elizabeth St.
You asked about the art scene, what it was like. The New York art scene was not that different from Raleigh is now. There were the known and unknown artists. Being a beginner I was in the latter group, with many of my friends. (Incidentally of that first group I associated myself with, I am the only one who has continued making art.) At the end of the 60's there was only one place to meet in Soho but artists had opportunities to meet and socialize with each other outside Soho in places like Max.'s Kansas City, Remington's and other bars and restaurants. I did get to meet Warhol, Rauschenberg, Jones, David Diao, Joan Snyder and a few others…but not well enough to call friends.
Of course the City itself was and continues as an influence in my work. My January 2006 show at Vignettes (Blake St., Raleigh) was heavily engaged with memories of the New York I grew up in and the City in which I started my career. There is a particular light or many variable lights which can illumine and offer different moods to that city. My prime concern in my work from the beginning has been Light; but not so much as that element that helps us see, but the effects and affects possible with light. I am concerned with light as a means of communication and not with its illumination. The architectural richness of that city also informs my work and again was evident in my January show.

While in New York, I did manage a number of shows in secondary galleries and as part of two artists' collectives.

Pappalardo:
What do you consider to be the role of the artist in society? And has that changed in your lifetime?

Rivera:
My move to Raleigh came about after the birth of my first son. New York had changed radically from the place I grew up in and met his mother. The city had gone bankrupt for the first time and the mood of the city darkened and its residents went into survival mood…or put another way, it became violent and no place for us to raise our children.

In 1977, Raleigh was tiny and the worst cultural backwater I had ever found myself in (except Lawton, Oklahoma in 1969). In Raleigh itself there were two galleries, Ruth Greene's (The Little Art Gallery) original venture on Morgan St., and an artist collective opposite Irregardless Cafe,also on Morgan St. The art I found, of course compared to what I had known was very timid, and mostly consisted of American Realism/Regional Realism and what I referred to as Regional Surrealism. Back then as now, too many local artists are being influenced second- or third-hand by what they see in art magazines, rather than original art ingested first hand. Though I was still in a formative period with my own work, I had outgrown surrealism. Though I was working figuratively then, I arrived on par with any of the locals.
Over my thirty years here, I have had the grace of meeting several of the senior artists, Joe Cox, George Birline are two, and the internationally known Tom Spleth, who have seen some of my work and liked and understood what I am doing. But my inner circle of friends are in the majority, other artists whose careers began elsewhere and today find themselves here. But it is not that we are elitist or exclusive but rather that the local ideas of what art and making art are –I won’t say provincial==but seem more limited. That is to say, I encounter artists who feel art is one thing or one way (of making) and I believe it is wider, richer and art can not be limited in such a way. And as I said at the beginning of this inquiry, local artists seem to find their sources many hands removed from personal experiences with the art they respond to.
——–
I actually took about half an hour after what I wrote above, to rethink my position. And what I have arrived at, is not so much that I may reject the local but that the local rejects my views and so I turn to my circle for support. This is not a blanket indictment of all the local artists, for I have honest and rich relationships with many, but the majority do not seem willing to work at real dialogue; and I am someone who does not deal well with small talk.
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Quilt 2

Pappalardo:
Would you consider yourself a political/philosophical artist or a more emotional/introspective artist?

Rivera:
About my own work, I can say that even before I began art school; my great love was and is drawing. The work you have seen shows I can deal with the conventions of figure drawing. But my interest in drawing has broadened my views so that drawing
means more than the figure, and even more than the making of shapes and forms. My greatest goal (and the proof must lie in the work I show,) is to investigate the greatest range of what point, line, variety of lines and mark making with just classic drawing media can achieve and still be expressive of my world view.

Though I am best known for my abstract drawing, I do not believe there is such a thing as abstraction. It might just be a philosophical point, but for me the abstract is something that if it exists at all stands outside of human potential to know and understand. What we call abstraction at its worst is mere design and at its best the use of the breadth of human experience and art throughout its long history, used to convey a significant content in the hands of a literate and consummate craftsman or painter. Such a painter has at their command the widest range of means and approaches and or styles to call upon when creating, and making a statement of their truth.

I hope I am one of those…but others and time will be the judges of my success or at least my attempt at that goal.

As for where I see my work going, I will continue my exploration of the possibilities of drawing to expand my means of communication. Communication is important, because at sixty, as father and grandfather, and , I hope, a better friend, my concerns begin to diverge and deepen from even the concerns of middle age.

Pappalardo
: What was your artistic education like? Are you self-taught? Or taught from the fundamentals, in an academic way?

Rivera:
As for my training, I have about two years of art school, the majority of which was at The Art Students League and some painting classes at The School of Visual Arts. I took some etching classes at The Fourth St. Print Shop and worked with ndependent potters, photographers and film makers to learn the basics of those forms of art.

Over my forty plus years as an artist I have also gained substantive skills in wood working, sculpture, gem stone cutting, silver working and various forms of textile art. Among my reasons for learning so many diverse forms is the intuited knowledge that no one form of art can be used to express my
concerns.

I consider myself for the most part to be self trained, but the greatest part of that self training has not been in the craft of making art; rather, for the reason that at my start I found myself asking 'why was I making art?" and "what art was?" I have been more engaged with a profound study of esthetics and the psychological aspects of making art.

But can I tell anyone else that I have answers, No. I have found answers to my own process and understanding of art, but I can only share insights into art and its processes with others. I try not to venture into anyone else's psychology 'why they make art,' but I am known and respected and called upon by many local artists for critiques and craft questions, because of my knowledge of art.

As far as the matter of politics in my work…I did one or two pieces when very young…But no, my work is not political or for the most part even concerned with social issues. The specificity required by such issues, places to strong a limitation on the art…even the best is always propaganda and none of it ever rises to the level of art.

Interviewer's thoughts: I am very grateful to Antonio Rivera for his very candid responses to my questions. I know that some out there frown at the whole process of writing about art, dissecting a piece of art or the artist himself/herself . I have heard many an artist complain when asked to come up with a "statement" but I can tell you, as an artist and as a spectator that my appreciation for the artist and the work only increases as I read about the intention behind the art. As I revisit Rivera's work, I will keep my mind, heart and eyes open, looking for the Light .

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