Isidro Blasco
IB854W181-LR
C-Print, board, wood, gypsum, compound, 15 x 8 x 7 feet, 2001; courtesy Roger Smith Gallery
NYFA Artists' Fellowship Recipient, 2001

Blasco’s work, which reconstructs spaces in which he has lived using enlarged photographs mounted on wooden frames, is held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Chicago Institute of Contemporary Art, The Baltimore Museum of Art, and many international museums. Blasco lives with his wife in New York City.

The interview was conducted by Ilana Stanger of TheArtBiz.com.

When did you begin producing artwork?

When I was five years old. My father and my mother are both artists, so I never stopped playing with art like most kids do—-I just kept doing it. My parents gave me a studio when I was 14. I didn’t have to decide to do art, and I didn’t really need to go to school, but I did go to school in order to meet the artists of my generation. When I finished my fine arts BFA [at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid] I began an architectural PhD [at Escuela Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid]. I wanted to get some other aspects in my fine arts education.

What was your initial medium? Did you always have an architectural bent?

It was there from the beginning. The way I materialize my ideas has always looked the same. What have changed are the concepts that I try to express, but not the ways that I express them. I’ve always had the same style, which is something that you’ll find more often in European artists.

You’re still in the PhD in architecture program. Do you feel that there’s a tension between your study of architecture and your practice of art, or do they complement each other?

It’s not the practical or technical aspect of architecture that I study, but the theoretical. So it isn’t that I want to build buildings, but the thinking--the theory--interests me. I have always been concerned with what is around me when I am inside a building, with the shape of the rooms or hallways. I can feel the space around me in a particular way, and it touches me deeply inside. It’s hard to find architects who talk about these perceptions, but there are some, and they have very interesting things to say. So I learn from them.

What brought you to NY? You’ve also lived in Madrid, Mexico City, and Rome among other cities. How have the places you’ve lived impacted your art?

Because my art is so much about the place where I live--I literally work with reconstructions of part or the whole of my apartments--I have to keep moving to keep it fresh. Every city has had a different impact on my work. I try to respond to the way the city is affecting me through the way I respond to the space that I inhabit. By doing that I connect my experience as an outsider, who walks the streets and interacts with the city, with my more intimate feelings about closed and private spaces. But I don’t think I’ll move cities again for a while. I found “The City.” In New York you have to move every few years anyway because prices go up. Also New York is great for an artist’s career, because there are so many artists here, and so much to learn.

How did you get your gallery representation?

I have three galleries representing my work right now, one in Madrid [Marta Cervera Gallery] and two in New York [Stefan Stux Gallery and Roger Smith Gallery]. I met my New York dealers when there was an open house show for the studio [The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Studio Grant] grant I had. Sometimes there’s tension between the dealers. When my work was shown at the Armory show in New York it was with my Spanish gallery, so that was a bit strange. In general though I think the more shows you have the better for the dealers and for your work as well.

Is your art received differently in Madrid than in New York?

Yes, it’s totally different. In Spain the people interested in art are a real minority--the critics, artists, collectors, etcetera. In New York the public goes and sees art in the same way they go to see a movie or a play. So a more diverse audience sees my work, and buys it.

Do you support yourself on your artwork?

Yes and no. I apply for grants all the time, mostly the ones that I hear about from friends and other artists. Right now I have the Guggenheim grant [Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in the Visual Arts]. I also apply to artists’ colonies, and for the free studio space that some foundations provide. Sometimes I sell some of my work. With all this converging, I can make it every month.

What is your ultimate career goal?

I want to stay in touch--I don’t want my art to become unrelated to what is being produced by other artists. I am also worried about being too successful. When you’re very successful, you’re obligated to repeat the same things. I like where I am now. I have my group of friends, and I have time--I don’t feel the need to always go out to parties and meet artists and network and that sort of thing. I only go to openings if I know the artist.

What advice would you give to emerging artists?

There’s a lot of pressure to be very well connected and to be constantly networking. It’s a shame because you may be an excellent artist, but if you’re not going out and meeting people and getting your work out, nobody is going to look very hard and find you. And once you’re old people are no longer interested in your work, so it seems that in these times it’s important to have success when you’re young. You have to figure out how you’re going to deal with this pressure, because you will have to deal with it. The most important thing that you have to keep always in mind is that your work is the only thing worth killing yourself for. If you can do something that is going to be different from the other artwork that is out there, you’ll have a pretty good chance of success. You have to decide how you want your work to speak both in the art world context and your social context, and then act on that.

This article was originally created for TheArtBiz.com. It appears on NYFA Interactive courtesy of the Abigail Rebecca Cohen Library.