Meet Amaia G. Marzabal | Visual artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amaia G. Marzabal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amaia, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
I think as a visual artist and educator, we artists have a responsibility with the artwork we are generating. Not only with the final product itself, but also with the process. First of all, the process starts when you question yourself or what happens in society. I always thought an artist and a philosopher are very close entities, because both ask questions and rethink society creating a print and an opinion in the viewer. That´s why I believe in art as a social impact generator. Speaking about social impact in my work, I have been always very interested in social structures. Especially, on how we as human beings repeat the structures that have been taught to us during childhood. Having the chance to work closer with kids, made me realize how we all have more in common than we thought, and how the impact of certain situations during childhood can affect the future development of people. Long time ago, and having this on mind, I started introducing patterns in some of my paintings trying to create a relationship between social structures, emotions and patterns that have been repeated without questioning them from childhood to adulthood. As I kept developing a bigger body of works I realized my art opened for me some personal doors that connected me with my past emotions and that questioned me. The images propose a compound of figures in different positions that recreate statues or photographs of moments to provoke in the viewer a connection with the inner self Sometimes just looking at an image helps memories and emotions, to arise suddenly and unexpected. For me my art helped me to reconnect with my inner child and I also thought maybe those images would help other people too.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I feel like over the years I had the opportunity to master the craft of exhibiting emotions and the energy of people using oil paint as my medium of self-expression. In the studio, the most difficult thing is the act of being alone. As a painter I sometimes miss the idea of interacting with more people in the process of creation, like music bands do. A painter is always alone in front of a canvas, what means in front of own self. Learning how to be alone is and has been a hard process, but definitely has made me grow as an artist. And I experienced this when moving alone to New York. I realized I was very disconnected of my own desires and decided to start an introspective trip to rediscover what I wanted. During this process I notice I was more aware of myself and through my practice I learned how to connect with inner self creating my unique way of speaking about the energy of people and their feelings at certain momentum like capturing a photograph. All this process has taught me how to understand my self better and at the same time to reflect and represent other people´s energy better. Somehow painting sometimes becomes a meditation. During all this I have learned to depend on the trust of process. If you start judging yourself from the beginning you are never letting the energy flow. The self-boycott over the work is always present and makes it harder to keep on. Instead working on self-trust and constancy is important to follow your gut. One of my favorite mantras is TRUST THE PROCESS.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
As a visiting artist, one of my favorite places to visit in Miami is the Wynwood Walls. The murals and the courtyard always inspired me and breathe new ideas into my existence. I also liked the mood of people enjoying some drinks around the art. At night, I highly recommend to visit the local spot Ball&Chain in Little Havana with live music and special cocktails. The backyard has an outdoor stage and a beautiful garden of Banana Trees. Finally, I was impressed with the Art Deco’s neon signs, that the city is trying to conserve. It made me feel I was living at another time from the past.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout is going to go to musicians in general. Music is my biggest partner during painting and helps me so much during all the process. Lately, I decided not to have my headphones when I go outside to be more present with my environment and the people. So I´m trying to use the right music to get inspired almost like a ritual. For this special occasion I want to nominate the artist Danit and her album Aliento. I found it highly inspiring.

Website: www.marzabal.net
Instagram: marzabal_art

Image Credits
of my personal photo: Lander Camarero