Monday, August 01, 2016

ARI REMIX - Interview with artist and designer Angelina Martinez- INTERVIEWS - remix.org.au

Angelina Martinez, That Space, 1987 PHOTO: Lisa Wicks



BIO

Angelina Martinez is an award winning graphic designer with over 10 years experience in all aspects of design for print, with specialist skills in publication design.

Previously Angelina was engaged as a graphic designer at the Queensland Art Gallery for over 7 years. This experience, combined with her BA in Fine Art from QCA, has provided her with a unique understanding of communication design for museums and the arts and cultural sector.

Angelina has furthered her professional experience in the corporate sector through working for two of the best design studios in Brisbane.

Recently taking the step to self-employment, Angelina is dedicated to providing her clients with creative, considered, brilliantly executed design outcomes that communicate effectively to its audience and straight-forward, concise, timely project management and delivery.
Angelina is based in Brisbane, Australia.


Interview

PA:

Angelina Hi and thanks, remix.org.au, why does an artist-led archive mapping artist testimonies and artist histories about the ephemeral nature of the vibrant Queensland 1980-1990 artist-run scene matter to you?

AM:

I too am very interested in this public archive project as I believe it’s important these untold stories are put on the public record.

I was directly involved with several Brisbane/ QLD artist-runs during this era including as an practicing artist maintaining a studio and contributing as a committee member of That Contemporary Artspace collective, located at the rear of 20 Charlotte St, 1986-88.

I also exhibited my work in the gallery space downstairs and was involved in day to day activities and collaborated with the other artists. I was also involved in Bureau Shop 4, City Plaza, Adelaide St, in 1989 and exhibited my work there and I participated in the 1988 Axis Art Project Axis File which was exhibited in New York.

As a Queensland based artist at the time I was working in various media including painting, installation, drawing and sculpture and was focused on various subjects in my professional practice including exploring the contemporary ideas of feminism and female sexuality.

I also felt that women were completely under-represented and mis-represented in the art world during the 1980s.

From my perspective this plethora of artist-runs at this time provided many artists like me with a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, a sense of the future, a sense of hope and opportunity.
Support and resources for young artists to develop and contribute to the cultural fabric of the city were non-existent. Many graduates from tertiary institutions felt, like myself, that we were on our own, with very little prospect of realising any sort of professional career let alone a career in visual art practice.

ARI’s or artist-run spaces as we called them also provided us with a place to exhibit, to network and to meet other contemporary artists. This was invaluable at the time as there were no venues, institutions or galleries that would even consider exhibiting my work or promoting my art practice, especially those of a young female artist like myself.

It is disconcerting that documentation and ephemera from this era has not been collected and published. This archive of material and resources and those of others like myself, deserves to have a place in the social and art history of the city.

It is important to document this history of ARI’s in Brisbane because of the unique political, economic and social circumstances at the time, and how this generated such enormous activity by cultural workers that was often critical, challenging and provocative.

REMIX is designed as an online project and what is terrific about this is that it will make these interviews and archives available to a wider audience online, from Queensland and elsewhere, and for much longer period than any exhibition can even attempt to provide. This is important to me.

Today I work as a freelance graphic designer specifically providing design services for clients in the Arts and Museum sector. I’ve also worked at the Queensland Art Gallery as a designer for over seven years.

I continue to be involved with local art practitioners, freelance curators and art administrators through my work providing specialised graphic design solutions and services.

Looking back now at my involvement with artist-run spaces like That Contemporary Artspace and Bureau with reflection – has provided me with an invaluable creative experience that continues to serve me well in my professional work and in my everyday life. It was an amazing and vibrant time.

Read more:
http://remix.org.au/interview-angelina-martinez/

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