OSCAR AXO Interview – 8-06-2020
«In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic«
1- How do you define yourself? How do you define your projects?
I think I would define myself as someone who likes to invoke freedom and lightness in the public space, as a response to the heaviness of everyday life. For this I resort to the dream and the mystical visions of the original peoples of Mexico (I am part of the Mixtec community, an indigenous people of the state of Oaxaca in Mexico) that animate the lives of my characters and their stories.
The human figure is presented, as a catalyst that leads the viewer to question their own condition and in other cases to reaffirm their identity.
2- How did you start working on street art?
At the university I met the incredible mural work of the Renaissance (Michelangelo. Leonardo Da Vinci and Rafael). At the end of my studies, due to fate, I worked at an art research institute where I had contact with the teachers who survived from the era of Mexican Muralism. A great pride was born in me of the great mural work of Mexico, from the pre-Hispanic era to the modern era. So much was my motivation that I decided to do my degree thesis on José Clemente Orozco, one of the three great Mexican muralists, after looking for the means to be able to paint on the walls. At that time, the great urban art boom was beginning in Mexico. Masters such as Seher One, Saner, Smithe, Jesús Benitez and others, created innovative compositions in the most important buildings in Mexico City. It was a revelation for me, I knew that at all costs I wanted to paint like them and create my own world on the city walls.
3- Where do you find the inspiration to create your projects? Are they modifiers of urban space?
I really like to investigate first of all the culture and the social context of the town (its traditions, its characters, its way of conceiving the world). My compositions are always a dialogue between my fantasies and longings and the culture of the place. Finally, I focus on the physical context of the wall, its shape, its function within the urban plan.
I must confess that the synergy and empathy that arises with the people of the communities has been a very important factor when choosing a theme or a formal solution in the mural. Sometimes I feel like an instrument of mysterious energies, which direct me to communicate a message that has to be given at that moment to people who pass through the streets.
4- What does Street Art represent for you in this constantly changing world?
I believe that it has become an aesthetic, which, although sometimes it is often an imposition, if it is channeled properly, it can allow the own recognition of communities that are consumed by the great urban stain, giving another meaning to the act of live the city.
5- Do you think Street Art should be legal or should it continue to be a form of art pursued by the police? Have you ever had problems?
I consider that one form and another (the legal and the illegal) are totally valid in their forms and processes. Illegal Street Art has always existed, I’ve seen pristine examples of it in some scratches from the time of the Roman Empire, and it will always be a source for urban aesthetics. It is an act for some it may seem foolish, but it makes present an important human need: to express nonconformities and at the same time to be a reaffirmation of the self before an increasingly convulsed world that blurs the individual in its mass vision.
I have always been able to avoid problems when they arise.
6- How long does it usually take to prepare each project?
It all depends on the dimension and logistical complexity of each project. There are murals that I can do in 4 days and others that can take almost a month.
Interview conducted by Art Bill – journalist and owner of Street Art In Action.
TAKE A LOOK TO THE WHOLE WORK THAT HE DOES, IT’S COOL, ESPECIALLY «Ixtaltepe«!
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