Honorary mention at XXI Printmaking Award "Maximo Ramos", Ferrol, Spain

21 International Award in Printmaking "Maximo Ramos" in Ferrol, Spain

The series "Y yo con estos pelos", ink and digital print on paper, won an Honorary Mention in this International competition.

Y Yo con estos Pelos by Paz de la Calzada
.Digital Print and Ink on paper

The Centro Cultural "Torrente Ballester" hosted the exhibition with a selection of 33 printmaking pieces. The premio de Grabado "Maximo Ramos" is one of the most important promoters of Graphic Art and Printmaking in Spain. This year the Exhibition has shown work that along with traditional printmaking techniques, integrates other artistic disciplines like drawing, photography and installation. This competition is an opportunity for the local government to invest in art since all the awarded pieces will be part of their collection.

View of the Exhibition. Centro Cultural "Torrente Ballester"
Ferrol, Spain

Pigeon Palace Mural Unveiling

Last night was the opening of the Pigeon Palace Mural. Using acrylic and charcoal I created a mural/intervention in the hallway of a private house in the heart of the Mission District. The ivy shaped representation seems to spread along the hallway in a dialogue with the Victorian architecture.

Pigeon Palace Mural, Mission District, San Francisco
Acrylic and Charcoal
50" long
2010

The private mural at the Pigeon Palace is a small manifestation of the Dreamscapes Series. In this case my intention was to explore the impact of a transformed domestic space. In the photos below, Dreamscape # 2 and #3, I wanted to change the way we perceive the architecture in public spaces.

Dreamscape #2
Digital print and ink
16" x 20"
2010

Dreamscape #3
Digital print and ink
16" x 20"
2010

DAILY SLOTS: Capitalism Is Over (if you want it)

Daily Slots is a collaboration project with artist and friend Eliza Barrios. Using news stands located along Market and Montgomery Street as "vehicles to deliver information", we intend to send bi/weekly messages through the windows of these structures. Altering the visual landscape of the pedestrian/urban environment, the messages will be a mixture of iconography and slogans that call attention to the economy, consumerism and un-sustainability of the capitalistic culture. Capitalism is Over (if you want it) the first of 7 actions took place on Thursday July 22nd from 8 to 10 am. For more pictures of the event please go to www.michaelrauner.com/over and www.capitalismisover.com






Eliza and I in front of one of our "Slots"

Photography by Michael Rauner

DREAMSCAPES

The city is such a complex reality that it is hard to embrace it in its totality. Getting to know a city means going deeper in its layers, walking its streets, meeting its people and getting lost in its urban chaos.
One of my favorite ways to experience the city is by biking. It feels like when you bike you establish a different kind of dialogue with the city. The speed of a bicycle transforms the experience of how we, the citizens, are affected by the urban landscape.




Today I got a new bike. A totally customized Paz de la Calzada bike made by my lovely super-talented bike freak Max Chen. It’s a very twisted urban bike ready to explore San Francisco’s hidden landscapes. Perfect for a sunny day like today. You can check a few examples of his crazy creative stuff in his website.
www.oilycog.com





























Talking about landscapes, I’ve been spending time thinking about what constitutes the spatial boundaries of art, its relationship with the architecture around us, and its capacity to transform the urban environment.

This is one of the few examples I’ve been working in the past months, which also plays with the concept of reality/illusion. This work is a collaboration with the photographer Michael Rauner. For information about his work, www.michaelrauner.com

"FLORA & FAUXNA"

Enso Gallery
131 Kelly Avenue
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
(650) 726-1409

ENSO Presents
Paz de la Calzada
Flora and Fauxna

March 1 – 31, 2010
Artist’s Reception, Saturday 13, 4 –6 pm

My work is inspired by nature and the relationship that women have with fabric and textile art. The idea of protecting, covering or dressing something has a female connotation. Women have always been collectors and herbalists and therefore more closely in touch with nature. This closeness between nature and daily life motivates my work.

Flora and Fauxna is from my recent residencies at the Millay Colony in NY and Djerassi in Woodside, CA. It explores my career-long fascination with patterns of nature and pop culture.

Paz at Djerassi

From February 5th I am enjoying a residency at Djerassi Resident Artist Program, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I will be working on charcoal drawings for my next show "Flora & Fauna" at Enso, Half Moon Bay. The drawings I am making here are made with traditional Victorian pattern wallpaper and charcoal. They create a juxtaposition between everyday, homely fabrics with calming, repetitive patterns - and nature, with savage tangles of vine. Flora and Fauxna continues my work of blurring the borders between function and ornamentation, art and nature. Along with the drawings, I am working on a large mural that represents tangles of vines spreading in the wall.




The photograph on the left was taken from the 2003 resident's album

Intervention (DreamScape) in a large wall of a building in Market St. I've been working on this idea for several months but it is something I've visualized for years. I have the vision of having a few buildings in town covered with one of my Hairscapes. These transitional architectural interventions will transform the art viewing experience.