Interview: María Angélica Viso
Luca Curci talks with María Angélica Viso during CANVAS INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR 2022, at Palazzo Bembo – Venice Grand Canal.

María Angélica Viso (Caracas, Venezuela, 1971). She studied at the painting atelier of the artist Ofelia de León for fifteen years. She obtains a degree in Business Administration at Metropolitana University, in Caracas. She obtained a Diploma in Western Art History at the Arturo Uslar Pietri Center for Latin American Studies, at the Metropolitana University. In that same centre, she obtained a Diploma for studies in Venezuelan Visual Arts. Although she initially developed her artistic work in oil painting, she has been making sculptural works for several years. Her work is based on the relationships between forms, matter, space and color, where the distribution on the plane suggests displacement, rhythm, and in other words, an illusion of mobility before the gaze. There is a game between light and shadow, and in some works, the wind finds an intervention and activates movement. At an early age, she won first place in the painting competition of the Playa Azul Club (1982). That same year she obtained honorable mention in the annual Maraven Painting Salon. She also obtained second place in the 17th Annual Maraven Painting Salon (1987). She is awarded the Arts Advocacy Award, given by TheWIFTS, in Los Angeles, California (2015). Her work has been selected to participate in multiple collective exhibitions and solo shows. Her artwork is present in private collections around the world, in places such as Malta, Spain, Italy, United States, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Canada, Spain and Venezuela. She currently resides in Spain.

Luca Curci – What are your thoughts while you paint? Do you have any habits or rituals while you work?
María Angélica Viso – When I paint my sculptures, I am in a painting cabin, concentrated on having no mistakes in the result, but maybe you want to know when I make the sketches or the maquette. In that case, I like to light incense, grab a cup of green tea and start to make a connection between my thoughts and what I am creating.

LC – Which subject are you working on?
MAV – I am working on developing a new series that is a blend of two previous ones. I have been working on this for a couple of years, and I think I am almost ready to show the result to the public. I am also doing tests on new and different materials and finishing results.

LC – How do you choose your subjects? Is it a reasoned or an instinctive process?
MAV – This is a difficult answer to give because depending on the series I am working on, I look for different forms. But I will answer regarding one of the series I like a lot. In this work, I ask the client for a picture of the family members that are going to be in the sculpture. I make an abstraction of those faces and as a result, I have the shapes to make the sculpture.

LC – Do you use art to express something in particular? Is it your medium of expression?
MAV – I feel that through art I can express my ideas in a clearer way, and the best thing of all is that it is a universal language; it is like having a conversation with a foreign person and being able to communicate.

LC – How do you feel when you see your work completed?
MAV – I feel like I have given birth to a new baby, it is like having a child that I created from the beginning.

LC – What do you think about the concept of this exhibition? How did it inspire you?
MAV – I think the greatest thing this exhibition has is the call upon artists all over the world, is like a union between different languages all dialoguing in perfect harmony among them.

LC – What is the message linked to the artwork you have shown in this event? How is it connected to the theme of the entire exhibition?
MAV – In this artwork that is shown, you can make a connection between the place where you are and the City of Arts and Science in Valencia, Spain, where I found the inspiration for the shapes that are represented in the piece.

LC – Did you enjoy cooperating with us?
MAV – Very much, I think everything has been very clear, and formal.

LC – What do you think about ITSLIQUID Platform?
MAV – A good place to show my work and get to be known by different and new people all over the world.

LC – What do you think about the organization of our event?
MAV – As I said before, very professional, formal and serious.