Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaac Reyes.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Growing up I instead of playing with video games or toys I created things out of materials I would find around my house. Sometimes I would create my own alternative world using my bed sheets. Every time I would create one of these spaces, I would make them more complex, having parts that would come up and down at the pull of a string. Whenever it was someone’s birthday or a special occasion, I would always create something for them. I remember Mother’s Day when I was fifteen, I made my mom this puppet of an oversized butterfly that–with the help of strings–looked like it was flying through the living room. I never thought of myself as an artist nor did I think of these creations as artwork. Coming from a small town where schools do not teach you to appreciate art nor to support artists, it never allowed me to think of art as a career. It was not until I enrolled in college and started taking art classes that I began to think of myself as an artist and of my creations as artwork.
Please tell us about your art.
I identify as Mexican and queer. Growing in a small town were culture is very machista. I had No positive exposure to a queer person/ culture. I remember that I was around ten years old and I heard of a guy that was beaten near death just because people thought he was gay. Since then I tried hard to hide my queerness.
Through my art work I started to be more open about being queer. My early work does it in a more indirect way through the exploration of feelings and the human interaction. At this point in my life I was in the closet and was only out to a few close friends.
As I became more comfortable with my identity, my work became more open and I started exploring and contrasting the machista culture to the queer culture that I was going into. I now find myself using Mexican pop culture references a traditional practice such as piñata making, and papel picado. To me the message that I am trying to convey is more important than adhering to a single medium. while my passion is working in sculpture and large-scale installations, Sometimes I feel like the message is better portrayed though a photo or a 2d object.
We often hear from artists that being an artist can be lonely. Any advice for those looking to connect with other artists?
I was lucky to have met a wonderful group of people though art school that have helped me avoid the idea of being alone, specially my best friend. A great way to meet other artist is to go to gallery openings and talk to the people there. I know that this is intimidating because the art world and artist can be intimidating at times. This is how I have connected with other artist and to this day I still talk to some people that I have met this way.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
you can visit my web page isaacreyesart.com to view previous projects and art shows and Facebook/Instagram where you can find information about upcoming shows
www.facebook.com/IsaacReyesArt
Instagram, isaac_Reyes_art.
Contact Info:
- Website: Isaacreyesart.com
- Email: isaacreyesart@gmail.com
- Instagram: isaac_Reyes_art
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/IsaacReyesArt
Image Credit:
Mark Green Photography, Isaac Reyes.
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