Adriana Prat
What are your earliest memories of being artistic? As a child in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I am from, I was rather solitary and always engaged in activities where I could draw, mostly cartoons, or build craft projects. I also loved music and I used to secretly dream of being a solo singer. Later in my youth, I started to be very critical of my drawings and pursued an education in Science since I also enjoyed studying Math.
When did art become a pursuit? After moving to the US in 1990, Science helped me settled but at some point, my true passion for Art started to resurface when I realized something was missing in my life. A small watercolor box gave me the chance to reconnect with this early love. Timidly but firmly I signed in for my first class in Drawing & Painting at the Brookline Center for Adult Education (BCAE). It did not take me long to realize that Art was my true passion.
Are you self-taught or formally educated in visual art? After BCAE, most of my art education came from the Studio School at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education where I attended intensive classes on drawing and painting, still lifes, the nude, working in series, etc., under superb faculty. However, I also consider myself highly self-taught thanks to my continuous eagerness to experiment.
How did you first become involved with CAA? Being a Cambridge resident and through my participation in the Cambridge Artists Open Studios (CAOS) I exhibited a few times at the Kathryn Schultz Gallery in the past. A few months ago, I attended the reception of a great artist in my network at the CAA Gallery and, as always, I enjoyed the energy of the CAA community staff and artists and the space, so I decided to join this last April.
In what other ways are you involved in the local art community? I belong to a studio group showing our art at SOWA. I go to shows from artists friends or other local artists. For a while and until last year, I co-directed the Riverside Gallery (RG) and the Riverside Arts Group with my friend and founder Carol Moses. The RG was hosted by the Cambridge Community Center and in this great space we offered not only exhibits with opportunities for emerging and established artists but also workshops and classes for the community.
What role do you think the artist plays in society? A bit poet, a bit mold-breaker, a lot dreamer, I think that the artist is both the voice of conscience, of reason and at the same time of the un-reason: the whimsical and the absurd voice, the voice of the child and free soul that lives in all of us.
What medium do you currently work in and how did you choose this medium? My true medium is oil paint or oil sticks. Out of convenience and to create more fluid textures I also use acrylics or a combination of both. I switch from one medium to another depending on the time I have to paint and on my mood. I tend to work in layers and sometimes with acrylics I can achieve my desired surfaces faster and with a more ethereal effect. I occasionally work in assemblage/collage using photo transfer or other mixed media techniques to achieve my visions.
What is your creative process? Where are you finding ideas for your art these days? Process for me is rather evolving. I used to start with an organic form in mind and distort colors and form to achieve my non-representational surfaces. I am currently having a variety of approaches to work on my paintings, and this is dictated too by the medium of choice. I often start with writing from poems or journal entries or simply words I use as mantras during the painting process. I use text mostly as an element to add texture in my pieces and often the text is covered in the finished piece. Since I use layers I am currently painting over some older pieces which I find extremely fun to do: It is amazing to see how much energy a paint-over artwork has.
How do you choose your subject matter? Is there a reoccurring theme that carries throughout your work? I periodically get inspiration from a given topic or subject: recently I have been exploring ideas around gratitude in my abstract “ex-votos” (votive offering to a divinity, in general given in fulfillment of a vow or miracle). Aesthetically speaking, a recurrent theme for me is to use layers in a way that the final piece appears to have been worn out, evoking the passing of time or the feeling of a cave painting. I often cover the paintings then with white or off-white painting. As I described above, I also frequently use text as ground to explore additional “mind-journeys” on the canvas surface.
What is one of your artistic goals for 2018? I am interested in being more connected to the talented artists in the community. I recently met talented CAA member Paola Bidinelli: I am honored she chose me to help her organize an artistic and spiritual “Movement” she created, named “Bianco Avant-Garde”. This movement was conceived as a reaction to manipulative consumerism and is made up of amazing multidisciplinary artists who perform live to emotionally involve the audience. We are actively planning for our common goal of having an event to show our planned event/performance. Other important goals I have this year are to explore encaustic medium, which I never tried before, and to apply for artists residencies.
Do you have any shows coming up? Other than the upcoming “Bianco Avant-Garde” event mentioned above and still in process, I am currently showing at Freepoint Hotel, Coldwell Banker and “Still life: Captured Moments” through the CAA. I will have a solo show at the Cambridge Health Associates (335 Broadway) from September to November, I will be participating in the CAOS Open Studios in September 29th and 30th, and I am at SOWA (450 Harrison Ave, Studio 213) with a group of terrific artists, every First Friday of the Month or by appointment.
See More From Adriana!
Website: www.agprat.com; new wing: https://agprat.wixsite.com/agprat
Instagram: agprat.art