by Patrick Ogle
-mar-, (aka Marcela Aquero) is a visual artist living in Miami Beach. Mostly, she is a photographer but she dabbles in design, music and multimedia as well. For nearly twenty years –mar- has worked in both fine art and commercial art. Yet she has had gaps and periods where she was less visible, less productive than in others. The meandering nature of her career as an artist has led to both a scattering of her work and a diminution of her impact. Sounds harsh but it is true.
Another truth is that fans of the visual arts should be aware of –mar-, what she has done and what she plans to do. One thing she is currently, and perpetually, working on is photographing textures.
“I shoot textures everyday. It is a form of addiction. It's so second nature though that I wouldn't actually say I'm "working" on it, “ she says. “The latest series I started was in 2006, it was innovative and I took so long to unveil it that society beat me to it...so now it's cliché'. THAT was something I was actually working on.”
She uses textures in two ways mostly.
“There are two angles, the texture itself, and then the subject matter. Both are completely spontaneous and unrelated until I combine them into a piece together,” says –mar-.
Sometimes she manages to find beauty in things most might scrape off their shoe or actively avoid stepping on in the first place: dead birds, broken streets, various flotsam. She somehow makes them alluring.
“I have just as much of an internal reaction towards a beautiful texture (it's composition, "expression" , etc.) as I do towards a beautiful expression on a statuesque model. I think I'm attuned to a certain spirit of things rather than the things themselves.” she says.
The 2006 project –mar- referenced has yet to be completed to her satisfaction.
“It's still floating around in my head. It's a work in progress, stunted by my lack of confidence. It's a series I started revolving around black ink splatters. I was creating the splatters myself with various materials to incorporate into the series,” she says. “That was time consuming. About four months into it, Photoshop came out with a splatter filter (or paintbrush) for graphic designers. Since then I've seen ink splatters on almost everything. its passé.”
The series (titled, more than a thousand words) was never exhibited although –mar- now allows that it should have been.
“I have eight or nine (from the series) I'm happy with. There is a ‘theme’ to the series (that much retains its integrity!), and the splatter is just a means of illustrating the theme,” says –mar-. “The initial impact however is lost when the viewer has seen it all before. In these times, it is really difficult to believe that everything we could possibly think of hasn't been thought of before-- in terms of art”
She says that she could be her own worst judge, however, and earlier alluded to that lack of confidence that plagues many artists. At some point the public will be able to judge when the series is exhibited.She also didn’t initially want to even TALK about the series or give its name.
“I was going to say, I prefer to not reveal the theme until I unveil the entire series... but what the heck, whatever…. It is about not finding the right words to express emotions. It was based around the idea of a love letter,” she says. “The ink represents handwriting, only there are no words whatsoever, only splatters which create expressions both calm and tumultuous in combination with depictions of stunning, classic women.”
-mar- printed a short run of the series in book form.
“I wrote no words inside, no credits or anything. I was hoping to market it and myself to local art galleries for an opportunity to show it.” she says.
Unfortunately fate intervened.
“I was hit by a car while walking in a crosswalk. The book is sitting on my shelf collecting dust! and the series is still incomplete but this brings me to an interesting self discovery I had about the textures.”
-mar-‘s favorite local magazine The Lead Miami Beach, ran a series of her photos, shot during Art Deco Weekend.
These were pictures about some of the dilapidated architecture in Miami Beach. And yet it wasn’t a slight on the city at all. The fact she shot the run-down actually made her question herself more than Miami Beach.
“WHY? in such a beautifully manicured city, where there are many architectures, landscapes and lush things to capture, especially during Art Deco weekend--why was I drawn to decay and the alleyways again? A part of me felt ashamed of myself, regardless that I was depicting even these subjects in a beautiful light. But I understand it now!,” she says. “There is something very special to me about this city. I love it here. It is beautiful to me, the whole of it, every part of it . I think I'm just shooting something pretty that I'm attracted to, but I'm wrong, In this case the textures, the decay, the alleys, and the things that no one notices, they blare out at me, these shapes, rusted or weathered with their circumstances, surrounded by such a great environment and like by the most beautiful sunlight. I realize I see myself in them. The final pieces are a reflection of me.",
Highlighting decay also might have a greater purpose, whether intentional or not, in inspiring preservation. She also says that she was not initially conscious of the pro-preservation message but became aware after the pieces were done. And –mar-admits she doesn’t see decay as a negative. She was, however, worried about the perception of something she meant in a positive light.
“It is all a very loving expression of some things I saw within a span of 25 minutes or so. I enjoy walking around the city.” she says. “And what I meant by seeing myself in them was a bit of a profound discovery for me. We are attracted to what we are. I think I saw myself in those textures. They' re everywhere, and unnoticed, but awesome. They're the result of natural causes. Now let me put me in this context. I ,too , dwell around these streets, I've been doing for some time. I don't glisten, I don't look rich, and I've been recovering from that hit and run. I could get really deep about the emotions it's left me with , but I wont' bore you to death...the story is right there in my Art DECOnstruction series.”
More with –mar-, especially related to past, groundbreaking pieces such as Caution, soon. This iconic piece is depicted below.
Another truth is that fans of the visual arts should be aware of –mar-, what she has done and what she plans to do. One thing she is currently, and perpetually, working on is photographing textures.
“I shoot textures everyday. It is a form of addiction. It's so second nature though that I wouldn't actually say I'm "working" on it, “ she says. “The latest series I started was in 2006, it was innovative and I took so long to unveil it that society beat me to it...so now it's cliché'. THAT was something I was actually working on.”
She uses textures in two ways mostly.
“There are two angles, the texture itself, and then the subject matter. Both are completely spontaneous and unrelated until I combine them into a piece together,” says –mar-.
Sometimes she manages to find beauty in things most might scrape off their shoe or actively avoid stepping on in the first place: dead birds, broken streets, various flotsam. She somehow makes them alluring.
“I have just as much of an internal reaction towards a beautiful texture (it's composition, "expression" , etc.) as I do towards a beautiful expression on a statuesque model. I think I'm attuned to a certain spirit of things rather than the things themselves.” she says.
The 2006 project –mar- referenced has yet to be completed to her satisfaction.
“It's still floating around in my head. It's a work in progress, stunted by my lack of confidence. It's a series I started revolving around black ink splatters. I was creating the splatters myself with various materials to incorporate into the series,” she says. “That was time consuming. About four months into it, Photoshop came out with a splatter filter (or paintbrush) for graphic designers. Since then I've seen ink splatters on almost everything. its passé.”
The series (titled, more than a thousand words) was never exhibited although –mar- now allows that it should have been.
“I have eight or nine (from the series) I'm happy with. There is a ‘theme’ to the series (that much retains its integrity!), and the splatter is just a means of illustrating the theme,” says –mar-. “The initial impact however is lost when the viewer has seen it all before. In these times, it is really difficult to believe that everything we could possibly think of hasn't been thought of before-- in terms of art”
She says that she could be her own worst judge, however, and earlier alluded to that lack of confidence that plagues many artists. At some point the public will be able to judge when the series is exhibited.She also didn’t initially want to even TALK about the series or give its name.
“I was going to say, I prefer to not reveal the theme until I unveil the entire series... but what the heck, whatever…. It is about not finding the right words to express emotions. It was based around the idea of a love letter,” she says. “The ink represents handwriting, only there are no words whatsoever, only splatters which create expressions both calm and tumultuous in combination with depictions of stunning, classic women.”
-mar- printed a short run of the series in book form.
“I wrote no words inside, no credits or anything. I was hoping to market it and myself to local art galleries for an opportunity to show it.” she says.
Unfortunately fate intervened.
“I was hit by a car while walking in a crosswalk. The book is sitting on my shelf collecting dust! and the series is still incomplete but this brings me to an interesting self discovery I had about the textures.”
-mar-‘s favorite local magazine The Lead Miami Beach, ran a series of her photos, shot during Art Deco Weekend.
These were pictures about some of the dilapidated architecture in Miami Beach. And yet it wasn’t a slight on the city at all. The fact she shot the run-down actually made her question herself more than Miami Beach.
“WHY? in such a beautifully manicured city, where there are many architectures, landscapes and lush things to capture, especially during Art Deco weekend--why was I drawn to decay and the alleyways again? A part of me felt ashamed of myself, regardless that I was depicting even these subjects in a beautiful light. But I understand it now!,” she says. “There is something very special to me about this city. I love it here. It is beautiful to me, the whole of it, every part of it . I think I'm just shooting something pretty that I'm attracted to, but I'm wrong, In this case the textures, the decay, the alleys, and the things that no one notices, they blare out at me, these shapes, rusted or weathered with their circumstances, surrounded by such a great environment and like by the most beautiful sunlight. I realize I see myself in them. The final pieces are a reflection of me.",
Highlighting decay also might have a greater purpose, whether intentional or not, in inspiring preservation. She also says that she was not initially conscious of the pro-preservation message but became aware after the pieces were done. And –mar-admits she doesn’t see decay as a negative. She was, however, worried about the perception of something she meant in a positive light.
“It is all a very loving expression of some things I saw within a span of 25 minutes or so. I enjoy walking around the city.” she says. “And what I meant by seeing myself in them was a bit of a profound discovery for me. We are attracted to what we are. I think I saw myself in those textures. They' re everywhere, and unnoticed, but awesome. They're the result of natural causes. Now let me put me in this context. I ,too , dwell around these streets, I've been doing for some time. I don't glisten, I don't look rich, and I've been recovering from that hit and run. I could get really deep about the emotions it's left me with , but I wont' bore you to death...the story is right there in my Art DECOnstruction series.”
More with –mar-, especially related to past, groundbreaking pieces such as Caution, soon. This iconic piece is depicted below.
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