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Artist opens up world of expression with art that leaps off walls | kvue.com | KVUE Texas News | State headlines
A recent art exhibit at the Bihl Haus (located on Fredericksburg Road) was eye-stopping: the art literally leapt off the walls and out of the picture frames that housed it. The artist is 28-year old Raul Castellanos. Born in Mexico City, he’s made San Antonio a home.
Castellanos was born deaf. But instead of handicapping the young man, his disability has opened up a world of expression.
Castellanos will capture the attention of Fiesta-goers next year: he’s been selected to build the throne for the Cornyation of the Fiesta King and Queen.
Castellanos recently interviewed with reporter Joe Conger, via text-messaging and emails:
1) Give us a brief background of your disability?
“I hope to make art with significance with a message for the world. Art has saved my life, paid my rent, gotten me food, so many things art has done for me and the people. I was born deaf, but the doctors didn’t find out until I was two and a half. So they told my mom I had been reading lips as a baby.”
2) Was this Bihl Haus venue in San Antonio your first, and how was it received?
“Bihl Haus was not the first venue I have had exhibits. I started exhibiting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I graduated high school and where my father still lives with his wife, at Centro Cultural Recoleta. I made my first assemblage piece and exhibited there in that show when I was 17. I have been doing art all my life, with public and private art instructors, most notably one I had in Buenos Aires. My mother also helped put me through the Carver Cultural Center’s weekend program in the arts. Wait a minute, that was my first show, as a kid with some clay sculptures in the Carver when I was about 8 years old! I have been a professional artist for about 5 years here in San Antonio, I did my first show which almost sold out at the Basement Bar and Lounge 5 years ago, and I was also a tenant at Blue Star: first at the now defunct Silos, and then at the Bent Easel. I have exhibited almost everywhere here in town, but just now I am getting some respect for my art. I guess it’s all about the message the art has. Now, more and more people feel my art. The Bihl Haus show was my most successful ever. I raised $1300 for helping the animals hurt by the BP Oil Spill which is 20% of my art sales. I sold a third of the work I had in that show. Very successful!
3) Despite being so visual, your art appears centered on the “auditory” sense. This isn’t a coincidence is it?
Originally, my art was very personal and difficult to interpret, as I was always breaking musical instruments and making assemblages out of the pieces. This series was nevertheless very successful, always selling. I have also performed live art for much of those 5 years, mostly with ArtSlam on and off with them for their 3 years in existence. Many bands have asked me to perform live art alongside them, almost as if I was playing art as a musical instrument.
You're totally right about the centering of my art on the auditory senses, how could art not be a personal journey? I was put through music schooling by my father for some years in Buenos Aires, I could even play some nice tunes on the guitar, but I got fed up and broke the guitar in pieces and created that first assemblage. I was 17 at that time.
4) Where do you get your inspiration for your pieces?
“My inspiration comes from within, from the world, from what the world needs to HEAR or be TOLD. I have a personal obligation from God to create art. Through it, He takes care of all my needs. I mean it! It’s supernaturally amazing how He does it. I do what I was born to do, and He will take care of the rest: 100% guaranteed, He hasn't disappointed at all. God gave me perceptive artist's eyes with which I see these truths which I express in my art.”
5) There’s a 3-D affect to your art, full of artifacts from this 21st century. Explain how you use these pieces to make a statement?
“For my "recycling and recovery" show at Bihl Haus, I have created a body of work which took me one year to create, trying to show luxury in discarded objects, trying to convey a message to the world taking objects which already have a story themselves and meshing them together to tell another story. Many objects are socio-cultural "pathogens" or "addictions.” Our perpetual consumption as a society is so widespread and wrecking havoc in our souls. In Japan, there are people hospitalized because of their addictions to the internet; they are so engrossed in it, they forget to eat.”
6) How do you describe your art?
“My art is life changing, that’s how I describe my art. My art is my blood, sweat and tears. I do it or I die, because I'm sick with addiction (but I'm not using because I'm in recovery) and also with bipolar disorder. Both can be devastating and crippling diseases. I have to do my art to stay clean; it has to be a full-hearted effort, too. No half-assed art nor half-assed efforts. I also give back to the world this way. Karma. My art also is my voice, my song. When I was young I wanted to be a rock star. As I told Patty Ortiz the director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts in her interview with me (You can read it here The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center BLOG» Blog Archive » Patty Interviews Raul Castellanos) that if I wasn’t deaf, I'd be a rock star…an evil, conceptual rock star.”
7) Is there a message you are conveying with your pieces?
“With every body of work and every art piece the message changes, but in the "recycling and recovery" show, my message is that the world needs change. We definitely need to take care of the recovery of the ecosystem soon and recycle, too!
8) What can a person who has grown up surrounded by sound learn from your artwork?
“A person growing up surrounded by sound can learn to love the world more from my artwork, learn to appreciate their ears more, perhaps. People go deaf every day after a lifetime of hearing. I've seen it happen; they are really sad the day they become deaf. But, I tell you, deafness is a gift to me. I hope for anyone who is deaf, too. It is a double-edged sword. A person can learn to get rid of noise pollution from my work perhaps.”
Castellanos has a show coming up in November at the Long Hall Gallery: 618 West Craig Place.
A recent art exhibit at the Bihl Haus (located on Fredericksburg Road) was eye-stopping: the art literally leapt off the walls and out of the picture frames that housed it. The artist is 28-year old Raul Castellanos. Born in Mexico City, he’s made San Antonio a home.
Castellanos was born deaf. But instead of handicapping the young man, his disability has opened up a world of expression.
Castellanos will capture the attention of Fiesta-goers next year: he’s been selected to build the throne for the Cornyation of the Fiesta King and Queen.
Castellanos recently interviewed with reporter Joe Conger, via text-messaging and emails:
1) Give us a brief background of your disability?
“I hope to make art with significance with a message for the world. Art has saved my life, paid my rent, gotten me food, so many things art has done for me and the people. I was born deaf, but the doctors didn’t find out until I was two and a half. So they told my mom I had been reading lips as a baby.”
2) Was this Bihl Haus venue in San Antonio your first, and how was it received?
“Bihl Haus was not the first venue I have had exhibits. I started exhibiting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I graduated high school and where my father still lives with his wife, at Centro Cultural Recoleta. I made my first assemblage piece and exhibited there in that show when I was 17. I have been doing art all my life, with public and private art instructors, most notably one I had in Buenos Aires. My mother also helped put me through the Carver Cultural Center’s weekend program in the arts. Wait a minute, that was my first show, as a kid with some clay sculptures in the Carver when I was about 8 years old! I have been a professional artist for about 5 years here in San Antonio, I did my first show which almost sold out at the Basement Bar and Lounge 5 years ago, and I was also a tenant at Blue Star: first at the now defunct Silos, and then at the Bent Easel. I have exhibited almost everywhere here in town, but just now I am getting some respect for my art. I guess it’s all about the message the art has. Now, more and more people feel my art. The Bihl Haus show was my most successful ever. I raised $1300 for helping the animals hurt by the BP Oil Spill which is 20% of my art sales. I sold a third of the work I had in that show. Very successful!
3) Despite being so visual, your art appears centered on the “auditory” sense. This isn’t a coincidence is it?
Originally, my art was very personal and difficult to interpret, as I was always breaking musical instruments and making assemblages out of the pieces. This series was nevertheless very successful, always selling. I have also performed live art for much of those 5 years, mostly with ArtSlam on and off with them for their 3 years in existence. Many bands have asked me to perform live art alongside them, almost as if I was playing art as a musical instrument.
You're totally right about the centering of my art on the auditory senses, how could art not be a personal journey? I was put through music schooling by my father for some years in Buenos Aires, I could even play some nice tunes on the guitar, but I got fed up and broke the guitar in pieces and created that first assemblage. I was 17 at that time.
4) Where do you get your inspiration for your pieces?
“My inspiration comes from within, from the world, from what the world needs to HEAR or be TOLD. I have a personal obligation from God to create art. Through it, He takes care of all my needs. I mean it! It’s supernaturally amazing how He does it. I do what I was born to do, and He will take care of the rest: 100% guaranteed, He hasn't disappointed at all. God gave me perceptive artist's eyes with which I see these truths which I express in my art.”
5) There’s a 3-D affect to your art, full of artifacts from this 21st century. Explain how you use these pieces to make a statement?
“For my "recycling and recovery" show at Bihl Haus, I have created a body of work which took me one year to create, trying to show luxury in discarded objects, trying to convey a message to the world taking objects which already have a story themselves and meshing them together to tell another story. Many objects are socio-cultural "pathogens" or "addictions.” Our perpetual consumption as a society is so widespread and wrecking havoc in our souls. In Japan, there are people hospitalized because of their addictions to the internet; they are so engrossed in it, they forget to eat.”
6) How do you describe your art?
“My art is life changing, that’s how I describe my art. My art is my blood, sweat and tears. I do it or I die, because I'm sick with addiction (but I'm not using because I'm in recovery) and also with bipolar disorder. Both can be devastating and crippling diseases. I have to do my art to stay clean; it has to be a full-hearted effort, too. No half-assed art nor half-assed efforts. I also give back to the world this way. Karma. My art also is my voice, my song. When I was young I wanted to be a rock star. As I told Patty Ortiz the director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts in her interview with me (You can read it here The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center BLOG» Blog Archive » Patty Interviews Raul Castellanos) that if I wasn’t deaf, I'd be a rock star…an evil, conceptual rock star.”
7) Is there a message you are conveying with your pieces?
“With every body of work and every art piece the message changes, but in the "recycling and recovery" show, my message is that the world needs change. We definitely need to take care of the recovery of the ecosystem soon and recycle, too!
8) What can a person who has grown up surrounded by sound learn from your artwork?
“A person growing up surrounded by sound can learn to love the world more from my artwork, learn to appreciate their ears more, perhaps. People go deaf every day after a lifetime of hearing. I've seen it happen; they are really sad the day they become deaf. But, I tell you, deafness is a gift to me. I hope for anyone who is deaf, too. It is a double-edged sword. A person can learn to get rid of noise pollution from my work perhaps.”
Castellanos has a show coming up in November at the Long Hall Gallery: 618 West Craig Place.