Today we’d like to introduce you to Julio Reyes.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was born in Hollywood and raised in the urban sprawls of Los Angeles. My aesthetic was shaped early on by the platinum light and expansive concrete horizons of southern California — and although I’m a recent transplant to Texas, I’m incredibly inspired by the big skies and open country here. I think that’s why so drawn to depicting lone figures within the context of a landscape and open skies in my work. When I was a child, I used to sit around family tables and listen to stories from the old-timers, about the old days… I learned about my family’s journey to the American Southwest from Mexico. I also learned about heroic men who worked hard in the fields until they physically perished, about heroic women who kept their families together and afloat in spite of great loss and sorrow, about drunks, soldiers, war, merriment, faith, betrayal, and forgiveness… everything that makes life interesting and impossibly grand. This more than anything fueled my imagination and left an indelible mark on me. It made me want to tell stories through my work and to approach the people that populate my paintings with dignity and love — their hidden lives contain treasures and are more extraordinary than any fiction. Art has become a means for me to contemplate the people and places I loved most, and to give lasting form to my feelings towards them.
At the age of 28, I won Best in Show, in the 2010 ARC Annual Salon Competition – the Art Renewal Center’s top honor. In 2011, I had my debut solo exhibition at Arcadia Gallery in New York. The following year I won the prestigious, William F. Draper Grand Prize at the Portrait Society of America’s 2012 Annual Portrait Competition — making me one of only two artists to have won the highest honor at both major American art competitions. I earned my BFA in Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture at the Laguna College of Art and Design in 2005. My work has been featured in dozens of books and magazines including Lapham’s Quarterly, Fine Art Connoisseur, and American Art Collector. My work has exhibited in multiple countries and museums is collected all over the world and has been awarded the highest accolades given by the Portrait Society of America, the Art Renewal Center, the California Art Club, and more. I recently relocated to Texas with artist and wife Candice Bohannon, where we welcomed our first child, and are offering workshops for the first time.
I am represented by Arcadia Contemporary in Los Angeles, CA.
Please tell us about your art.
As a child, my imagination was fueled by family stories of tremendous adversity, sorrow, perseverance, and the incredible feats of those who journeyed far to become American citizens. As such, I have always been moved by the human capacity to love, dream, and persevere, with great courage and sincerity, in spite of a vast and un-sympathetic Nature. The most meaningful sources of inspiration in my art are the people, places, and things that resonate and connect me most deeply with these sentiments. My works often focus on intimate dramas — brief moments of unnoticed grandeur, that is all too often missed in the hustle and bustle of modern existence. I see most people as tender souls, grappling privately with the pressures of life. Life struggles and for many around the world, it is brutal. It is remarkable to me and so unlikely, that beauty and kindness should persevere in spite of this.
I want to create art for the rest of my life according to my highest calling and fullest abilities. If I can transmit, through my work, even the smallest semblance of the love and awe that I have for life – I will have truly done something. I want to look back on a life of meaningful and serious works of art; art that stands against the growing nihilism of our time — and with fixed purpose celebrates the beauty and immensity of life.
Choosing a creative or artistic path comes with many financial challenges. Any advice for those struggling to focus on their artwork due to financial concerns?
What my wife and I did early on was to get part-time work on the side so that we could pay the bills, but worked FULL time as artists the rest of our waking hours. We were fresh out of art school and so we kept our overhead as low as possible so that it would fit within the budget set by our earning potential at the time. If possible, try to find art-related work… galleries, art installation companies, interior designers, are always looking for smart, hardworking creative types to hire. I worked for a small private art installation company in orange county for some time. The company had an elite client list all over Orange County and Los Angeles County, and I learned a tremendous amount about the art scene… I was privy to the working relationships between galleries and interior designers, framers, private collectors, corporate collections – I was able to see what good and bad relationships between galleries and the artists themselves looked like.
My attitude shaped everything. I saw my part-time work as just that: part-time. To me, my full-time job was painting at minimum eight hours a day on my work in the studio. I approached my own studio time and any business related to my art with total discipline, and total commitment. Working in the art world more as an observer rather than the “talent” allowed me to see what I liked and what I didn’t; it helped me to shape a vision for what I wanted to be and what I did not want to be. When you begin to understand your own voice in the studio then you can shape a vision for yourself… this allows you to be focused about where you put your efforts, and what kind of venues to show your work you will pursue. Know thyself. Stay within your means. There’s no reason you can’t be creative anywhere, at any budget… especially these days, with the exposure that social media allows, you can make something simple and beautiful with a pencil and paper – and if your passion comes through and you are persistent enough, eventually the right eyeballs will see it and then you’re off to the races.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My work is available and on display year-round at Arcadia Contemporary, in Los Angeles, CA. (found online at: www.ArcadiaContemporary.com). You can learn more about me and view my work online at: www.JulioReyes.com – where you can sign up for my newsletter for more information on future shows in the Houston area, and for future updates on what’s happening in my studio.
My work will be on display in Houston at this year’s Texas Contemporary Art Fair, from Oct. 4-7th 2018, in the Arcadia Contemporary booth. Later this year, I will be headlining along with my artist and wife, Candice Bohannon at this year’s Figurative Art Conference & Expo (FACE) 2018, in Miami Florida. I will be demonstrating painting with a live model on a copper panel. Then, in January 2019, my work will be on display at the LA Art Show in Los Angeles CA at the Arcadia Contemporary booth.
To contact me directly, email: JulioRStudio@gmail.com
To visit or contact my gallery:
ARCADIA CONTEMPORARY
Old Town Pasadena
39 East Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91105
info@arcadiacontemporary.com
Phone: 626-486-2018
HOURS
Tuesday – Sunday: 11am – 7pm
Contact Info:
- Website: www.JulioReyes.com
- Email: JulioRstudio@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julioart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julio.eduardo.reyes
- Other: www.Julio-Reyes.blogspot.com
Image Credit:
Julio Reyes
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