Today we’d like to introduce you to Ernesto Marenco.
Ernesto, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
When I was a child, I was very naughty. I liked to burn things with fire and watch them melt. I liked to see and to think that the world was upside down. I believed in magic and always carried a blue marble, as a charm, in the pocket of my pants. I never liked the hard sciences like mathematics but preferred playing with materials like plasticine and clay.
Socially, I was always very outgoing, friendly and vulgar, but when I created things, I became serious. I imagined that the world was built from my small table. I thought that was where the ideas were born.
After enrolling in many schools, workshops and art academies, I realized that talent is something that is born and not done in institutions. It was then that I made the decision to be self-taught. I began to experiment with artistic materials and study different artists, philosophies and aesthetic movements in the history of art. This was my reference for artistic development.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do? Why? And what do you hope others will take away from your work?
The artistic creation for me is a lifeline in a world of social systems that to date have not worked for the welfare of all. As an artist, I have the capacity and the commitment to give faith to this reality, to its condition, meanings, and symbolisms. The act of creating is an act of faith, of psychological self-healing and of purifying the soul.
My main platform is poetry. I write short stories, poems or popular sayings but instead of using pen and paper I write three-dimensionally with found objects that are given away or acquired. I have always been interested in reading about the history and secrets of certain objects. I studied Museology because it explains and understands the origin, the secret and spatial meaning of objects. The importance of Museums and Galleries as temples to enrich the spirit of humanity, not only for contemplation and recreation. The pillars of human intelligence were based through time and the history on objects.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
The career of the artist is a race of resistance, and infinite search, therefore success is ephemeral.
The great challenge for the authentic and honest artist lies in the search to find your own voice. There is a stubbornness, and an obsessive need to find your own language, and thus be able to rename reality and the world in another way.
The essential part is to not forget that your ideas create your life and that in materializing them, you are contributing to your world being a better world.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I believe that the arts are not to only be seen, but to also be perceived. It is very important for me to know how people perceive my work, what provokes them, what motivates them, what encourages them or discourages them. For me, art must impact in a certain way that motivates or sparks something in the viewer.
I want the people to perceive my work, and allow it to motivate them to tell me their own story.
My work can be visited during the Latino Art Now! March 30-April 27 at Rudolph Blume Fine Art/ArtScan Gallery. I will also be creating an installation In October 2019 called MUTATIONS that has been funded by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. People can also visit my website at www.ernestomarenco.com or on my Instagram account www.instagram.com/
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ernestomarenco.com
- Email: ernestomarenco@hotmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ernestomarenco/
Image Credit:
Mel Dewees
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