Gonzalo Reyes February 2008
GONZALO REYES
By: Arielle Bielak
In September 2002, I sat in the dressing room of New York’s Irving Plaza, with a
video camera trained on the members of the band Le Tigre as they answered my
questions about music, art, and life. Not since that time have I had such an
informative and enjoyable discussion with an artist about art as I recently had with
Marwen alumnus Gonzalo Reyes. I got to know Gonzalo first as a teaching assistant
for Marwen. His other life which intersects with life here at 833 N.
Orleans seemed like such a rich and interesting one. I had to find out more.
Gonzalo Reyes is only halfway into his 20th year, and he’s full of artistic ambition and
accomplishment. To date, he has at least 9 exhibitions under his belt, a Regional Merit Scholarship to brag about and a number of art related awards granted in
Chicago and Mexico City. As an undergraduate student attending the School of the
Art Institute, he is pursuing a grand interdisciplinary degree blending visual critical
studies, photography, fiber and material studies. Gonzalo is also studio assistant to a
well-known Chicago photographer AND painter as well as a regular teaching
assistant for Marwen. He was awarded a 2007 artist residency in photography at
Marwen, and has exhibited his work in both of Marwen’s galleries, G2 Gallery, the
LaSalle Bank Building, Instituto Cervantes de Chicago, Block 37, and the Museum of
Contemporary Photography.
There was so much to discuss with him, so I invited Gonzalo to come to Marwen
early one day before class so that we could talk art. We snuck away to my new
favorite hidden café in River North, called Elements. Gonzalo is a pretty concise guy,
so our conversation was lively and really ran the gamut of creative forums; from
visual art, to music, and MTV, we covered some interesting ground.
I see that you have an interesting looking purple knitted thing on your glasses
Yea! Isn’t it great? That was the students in the class at Marwen I am assisting for. Do you know the Wise twins? They made it and gave me one.
Wow, the Wise sisters invented an eye-glasses kozy. Marwen's students never
cease to amaze me. How is it going as a teaching assistant? How has Marwen
changed since you were a student?
Marwen used to be more of a secret. Word-of-mouth marketing kept the student
body with a lot in common.
I’ve seen you work exclusively in a photographic medium. Do you consider
yourself to be a photographer?
If people think you’re a photographer, you get grouped in with cheesy terms like
“paparazzo” and “wedding photographer”. Photo is the thing that I am the most
technically skilled at doing, the medium where I know I have it down, but I definitely do
not like to get boxed in by titles like. I consider myself to be an artist before a
photographer. Honestly, it’s probably the medium that I will continue to primarily work
in, but the term “artist” is exciting to me. It’s liberating and necessary to have this
approach.
Does this mindset work with your appreciation of the Fluxus artists? You
mentioned that you admire their integrative approach?
I think that if you’re going to leave yourself open to other art forms, you should take
advantage and explore. But I don’t consider myself to be a Fluxus artist, and thus far I
haven’t integrated new mediums into photo.
Beck and Yoko Ono are coming to mind for me. Are there Fluxus artists that
you like in particular?
I like Beck’s music better than his intermedia work. Yoko Ono is awesome. I think
that she’s better than the Beatles. People are going to kill me if they read that.
Haha! I think it’s fine if we back it up with some solid reasoning.
The Beatles are good, but they got a little too repetitive for me. Yoko is always fresh.
Have you heard her remixes project? They are so good. She collaborates with Le
Tigre, Cat Power, Peaches…The album is called "Yes I'm a Witch". I will have to burn you a copy.
The Fluxus artists have certainly kept things fresh. I recently learned that a
Fluxus artist, Dan Higgins, coined the term intermedia. What are your feelings
on intermedia art?
I’m glad you asked. I’m really inspired by other media. I have watched other
photographers struggle to integrate other media into their work and teaching. It really
bothers me that some artists are so limited. They can only interpret a painting
through the language of photo. The lighting that I go for in a lot of my photos is
inspired by 16th century Dutch painting. I find that studio lighting inside is too
freakishly perfect for my taste. Natural light is more seductive to the viewer. When I
wake up in the morning, the light beams right in the window; light is an awesome
form of magic in its natural state.
How do you feel about coming into your own as an artist in Chicago?
I really like it in Chicago, and I never had any question in my mind that I would be an
artist here. I think that I would like to experience another place after undergrad, but I
definitely plan to return. Chicago has a great art scene. Right now I’m really into the
West Loop galleries like Kavi Gupta and Bucket Rider.
(for a partial list of other West Loop Galleries, you can go HERE)
I know that you have really enjoyed being a student and mentee of Melanie
Schiff. How does her excellence as a teacher and her rise to international
renown affect your own goals and affinity to Chicago?
She definitely plays a role in me wanting to stay in Chicago as an artist. Melanie has
the ability to put things into focus for me and she is encouraging in general. It’s
exciting to have an association with her, and I really love her work. My goals are
clearer now than ever before, but not to the point of feeling ready for gallery
representation.
If you suddenly weren’t in school any more, what would you do?
Wow. That’s hard. I think I want to stay in school as long as I possibly can.
I would probably hustle a job as an artist’s assistant. I would have to do something to
ensure I had access to equipment, which is critical. The best thing about being at
school is the hook up I have to equipment and people. It’s a wonderful place to
network.
So, if you could assist any artist in the world, who would it be?
Well, I’m already assisting two artists I really like. I’m working for Melanie Schiff, and
this Scottish painter Fraser Taylor.
Tell me more about wanting to stay in school for a long time.
If I’m going to be successful, I need to know myself better. School provides
motivation and structure, which is a great foundation for self-discovery.
What are the driving themes that you work with?
I am still trying to figure that out. I actually went through a kind of scary dry spell
recently. It was like I had writer’s block, only I dried up of visual concepts. Instead of
layered and complex work, I was coming up with these “one-liner” photographs. I got
to this point where I didn’t know what I was saying, or what I wanted to say anymore.
That sound’s frightening. What did you do?
Well, I kind of started from scratch. I felt I needed to re-educate myself, discover the
answers at the source. So I became an art history junkie. I almost switched over to
art history in school. Talking with my mentors also really helped me. It came to light
that one professor of mine had been experiencing a similar crisis, which was
surprising since he is about 12 years older than me. He gave himself a goal of
making one piece every day, without the pressure of them being “good”.
Did you try this approach as well?
I actually did for about 2 weeks. I wasn’t able to do a piece a day, but I did about 3
pieces a week. It helped.
Has your work changed since the hiatus?
Yes. I feel much more satisfied with everything I’m doing. I don’t put so much
pressure on myself. It’s funny, because I’m noticing that my output looks more
museum-worthy, without my intending it.
That’s really wonderful. Do you feel you’re developing your own unique visual
voice at this point?
I don’t think I’m quite there. But that’s okay. I’m not pressuring myself; I’m making it up
as I go along.
You mentioned that if you had to categorize your work, it might fall under
“Pop Art.” Looking at your work, I don’t really agree with this grouping. What
is your reasoning?
I don’t know how much it really falls under Pop. But when I’m staring too long at a
contact sheet, I start to think “what cologne ad would that work for?” I guess you
could really play that game with a lot of images, though.
Would you ever work commercially?
It really depends. If it were something cool, like Annie Leibovitz, no problem. If Marc
Jacobs called me up and was like “Hey Gonzalo, Juergen Teller can’t make it today,
can you fill in?” I would totally do that. Or I would do something for M.I.A. In general, I
don’t prefer to do commercial work, though.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I kinda wanted to be a musician, but honestly, I didn’t have much motivation in that
direction until art came along.
When did that first happen for you?
It was during my first photo class in school. For us it was either photography or
architectural drafting. I chose photo. The teacher really had some unique connections to the art world and maybe a foot in the door that other art teachers didn’t have. We
ended up doing a final exhibition upstairs at the Museum of Contemporary
Photography. It was so exciting.
How did Marwen fit into the picture?
Paulina Camacho was in that first photo class with me, and she told me about
Marwen. I came and took a photo class, but was kind of shy and didn’t get involved in
anything else. I was in my own bubble. It wasn’t until a year later that I came back and
got really involved.
So you wanted to be a musician? Do you still have a connection to music?
I was just in an MTV video! I went to Smart Bar for the filming of this video for Kid
Sister, and got to dance against a green screen. It was pretty awesome. It was all
about a beeper. There were a lot of MTV “suits” hanging out and looking awkward.
After the first part, the producers were like,” you, you, you and you, stay here.” I was
one that they pointed to. That’s when we did the green screen part.
(Check out the video, which also features Marwen alumna, Alex Herrera,
http://dpt.ghostrobot.net/beeper/.)
Anything else I should make sure to include in our interview, we didn’t get to
talk about Cat Power very much?
Definitely mention something about Thurston Moore. I really like his music.
Arielle Bielak is the coordinator of Alumni Programs at Marwen. She studied visual
art and creative writing at the University of Redlands and in Florence, Italy. You can
contact her here.