Meet Calina Hiriza | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Calina Hiriza and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Calina, what role has risk played in your life or career?
You know what they say… “You can’t win the lottery if you don’t play.” That might seem daunting because hey, how many people who have won the lottery do you know, however, the good news is that risk-taking in life or your career is as necessary as salt and pepper in your food. Too much might spoil the meal but none will make it bland. In essence, risk is necessary in (at least) moderate amounts to propel us further. Not to mention that risk will get your adrenaline going and make you feel… well, alive.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I was born on February 5th, 1981, the year MTV launched in the United States, and in Mexico City Tohui was the first panda born in captivity. Picasso’s painting Guernica was moved from New York to Madrid and the Boeing 767 made its first flight. Other than that, Wikipedia states it was a pretty terrible year.

I frolicked on the hills of Transylvania (Romania) until I was 17 years old, when I was willingly, yet abruptly, transplanted to New York City. I still remember today the feeling of awe mixed with irritation at the sight of what seemed to be interminable skyscrapers. Where was I?

My love affair with art started early and by chance, at 11 years old, when a family friend and artist glimpsed real talent in my drawings. And just like that, years of artistic training began.

Like any relationship, it held highs and lows but it was ever-present. Always there, in times of need, in proper studio spaces, and basements, and living rooms covered in painter’s cloth after the house went to sleep. Always there. Mostly without the spotlight of fame and accolades but always leaving an impression on anyone witnessing it. And that’s how I liked it. It was my secret weapon, something I didn’t have to explain or validate through others. My hidden factor of coolness. But not anymore, not hidden because it’s not just about art behind closed doors but art that I want to share with the world. So I can have strangely satisfying conversations with dreamers and visionaries, experience the unifying nature of art across races, and languages, and Google maps.

Over the years, my art transitioned into the abstract. Where the figurative could not answer, raw materials began to speak for themselves, asking for a life lived by a different set of rules. The shaping and expression of substance that is otherwise inert is most interesting to me. The paint as a medium, in its fluid, paste or dried form comes alive when we touch and transform it. Without figurative representation, the attention can be focused on the physical aspect, elevating it to its artistic value through intentional or impulse-guided gestures.

My latest work begins with a dialogue between self and matter, and leads to the abstract, where the corpus is deciphered through the texture, chromatic intensity, and kinesics. The pieces tell intricate stories in a clandestine language for which there is no physical referent.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If it was hot and humid NY summer, I’d say let’s pretend we’re 25 again, free of worries and responsibilities. So we’d hit a hipster rooftop party in an artsy part of Brooklyn, eat late night food at the taco truck in Corona, Thursday night we’d be at the Chelsea gallery openings to talk smack or deliver “Wow”s depending on the art and quality of free wine. Definitely a lot of walking because that’s the best way to discover the city, with a side of beach in Long Island.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to thank the Academy… and to my mom, family and friends for being there for me the best way they could, and definitely to all my art collectors!

Website: https://www.calinahiriza.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calina.hiriza/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CalinaHirizaArt