MEMBER FEATURE:

Our Rockella Space Featured Member for August is Maku Lopez, a Rockella Space Member since May 2022. Maku has a studio at Decatur St Studios.

Maku Lopez writes about her work and practice saying “Most mornings we wake up to a physical reality of sharp contrast and clear-cut edges. Defined outlines help us navigate everyday life and the world around us. But the blurry fringes of perception are where things get interesting. This is what I want to reveal with my work: the unspoken, the hidden parts, the beauty of impermanence.

Painting, collage, and monoprint allow me to dig around in these spaces and textures as if surfing through the visual twilight. They let me feel the passage of time, the aging patinas, and the rawness of urban decay. Some of these spaces feel like an expansion of consciousness or even self-transcendence beyond the physical. In others, one can barely peek through a few open cracks. Many of these journeys into unexplored inner territories are guided by music and the sounds of color. Each color might stand for a tone, each brush stroke for a certain musical pitch. Gradually these shapes grow into acoustic compositions, building a fusion of sounds of my consciousness.”

Make sure to follow Maku on IG to see what she is up to next!

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m a female visual artist originally from Spain. Obsessed with colors. Grateful to be able to dedicate my time to what I love, photography and painting.

What sort of work do you make and what are the processes you use to make it?

When I paint I like to represent things that I see when I close my eyes; colors, textures, and figures that are connected to emotions and feelings that I have, but I can not represent with the camera.

I’m working now on a series called Fields of Vision, where I start with an abstract composition and then I paint a more figurative shape on top. I could say that the process is like a cloud-watching meditation guided by music. I’m using acrylics, oil paints and wax on wood panels and canvases.

You also have a very successful photographic practice. Can you tell us what you do in your photographic practice, how this may influence your paintings, and how you juggle both?

As a photographer, I worked mostly in fashion. I like to portray humans and create stories. Also, to scout people on the streets for projects, this city is amazing for that, with all the beauty and diversity of people living here, sometimes I portrait them or I present them to a client for a campaign.

I’m applying subconsciously all that I know from photography into painting, and I have this feeling that for me photography is like knowing how to drive a car, and painting is to explore how to drive a UFO.

I love to combine both activities as both are me, in photography I have more experience, and painting is giving me all the freedom. Maybe one day both melt into each other?… I have no idea, that’s part of the adventure.

How long have you been a Rockella Space Member and what is it about having a studio with us that you love?

I moved to Rockella a year ago. I love the community of people around me and how we support each other. Sometimes we collaborate on projects, it feels so good to have both your own space and a creative family around.

How has having a permanent studio changed the way you work?

It opened to me the possibilities to experiment, explore, play, and grow. There is nothing better than having your own space as a playground to create. I have my best times in the studio.

How do you anticipate your viewers approaching your work?

I hope they can enjoy it as much as I did creating it. Nothing to anticipate.

Check out other talented New Yorkers who are calling Rockella Space their creative home on our Peoples Page.