An intro. An essay. A letter from the editor.
Le Newsletter is back & so are you. Thanks for that.
Rossana Romero | Hermanitas (Santas del Agua y Tierra)
53x30in
Paper Mache & Acrylic
There’s a main attraction for this first newsletter of the new year. An interview with visual artist Rossana Romero. I came to know her work, pictured throughout in images provided by the artist, a year or so back while putting out feelers & experimenting with ways of curating & showing art independent of a gallery space.
Rossana is a Colombian born, Houston raised, Brooklyn based artistic presence. With a recent group show, En Vivo Y A Todo Color at London’s Eve Leibe Gallery, & a mandatory Art Basel appearance (I will be going with my friend Dina, she’s a DJ) to wrap up last year - Romero’s emerging practice is consistently conducive to creating the sort of work that really says something about her collectors’ tastes, interests, & willingness to go boldly in the direction of what calls.
We spoke (via email) about what’s new & next for the artist, what advice she has for aspiring fine artists, & her visual references.
The visuals that inspire us & help us to communicate something of ourselves to the world are a point of current fascination for yours truly, at least partly because of the reemergence of original formula Tumblr. Thinking about Tumblr is thinking about visual distribution, documentaries, conceptual projects, Tavi Gevinson, & journalist Michael Hobbes of the You’re Wrong About Podcast, as well as attorney Peter Shamshiri, the co-host of Hobbes’ very new books podcast If Books Could Kill.
Recently, in the context of talking about Bari Weiss & the ability to write & publish as an authoritative voice unbeholden to what should probably be necessary fact checking, Michael & Peter had an exchange about what Substack is. What it means to an ecosystem of professional writers. As someone who often enough applies that line of questioning to various platforms including this one, & now perhaps Tumblr, I listened & listened again.
Here’s what stuck:
Michael: yeah, it’s just blogs…
Peter: [Substack is]…the byproduct of a dying old media ecosystem that just like, can’t sustain the careers of many journalists & it’s like why compete for a tiny handful of positions at traditional outlets? You can go independent, in many cases make more money…
Michael: Substack has now become a part of the journalism pipeline. [it] used to be you’d kind of work your way up from a local paper & then you’d get a job at like the national paper, & then oftentimes you’d kind of move into the opinion section once you had gathered enough expertise from reporting.
But Substack totally turns that on its head because once you make it, there’s now this extra step where it’s like, you leave the establishment publication.
A space for visual references & creations. A publishing platform.
I don’t think of this as a generalist blog, although it’s been referred to that way in feedback. Le Newsletter is not a blog of any kind - although it doesn’t bother me if someone interprets my work as blogging - especially if they’re looking to hire for that. I do that. I get very excited about figuring out the best way to do that for each brand, maker, & space I work with.
This isn’t that.
This a quarterly publication, Inevitably experimental. A little Op/Ed. A little art & art world news. A little prose. A lot of interviews.
Categorization aside it should, on the whole, be a source of connection & resources. That’s why I’m here.
That’s why you’re here. Yes? So without further adieu.
Rossana Romero | Y Las Niñas?
24x30in
Oil on Canvas
How do you classify yourself as an artist?
RR: I am a visual multimedia artist.
Can you tell me more about your practice? How did you get started & what does it look like now?
RR: I would love to. I got started in art several different times in my life. As a kid I began making art & was excited with anything related to creating, which led teachers to allow me to turn any project I possibly could into a physical form because that just made the most sense to me. My mom & her best friend Juan are hairdressers & they exposed me to the world of craft & creating nothing into something beautiful. When I got to high school was when I had an art teacher tell me my senior year that I should devote my life to art. I never knew you could actually be an artist in this modern lifetime. She pushed me & entered me into contests, would allow me to spend time in her classes when I didn't want to be in other classes, & even convinced me to apply for college at an art school. I didn't fully make the commitment to being an artist until 2018. My practice has now changed into getting ready to see my studio every day, even if it means not touching any of my work, I want to be around it. I want to sit in it & let my mind wonder, stare into nothing. I do try to work on something every day, even if it's just a couple minutes but I am not one to encourage over working. I recently started working on multiple pieces at once & have loved the way it allows me to ironically rest inbetween pieces.
You recently spoke with youth through a program set up by the NYPL. Can you tell me more about how that came about?
RR: My old coworker's boyfriend Brian Levy works at the NY Public Library & hosts a group weekly I believe, for teen girls. He wanted to introduce them to artists & create a conversation between all of us [about] future steps, & my own steps that I have taken, since most of them go to an art high school & have interest in art. He reached out & I said yes!
I spoke with you in New York about the lack of a scene & structures that support emerging artists in cities like Houston (which is a city filled with amazing creatives) & about alternative approaches to curation & having work exhibited - what are some of the ways you’ve participated in creating these spaces as an artist?
RR: Well, I have never shown work in Houston as an adult. I have always wanted to & have definitely made that a goal for my future to show in the Houston museums. I have seen friends of mine in Houston create incredible spaces for creatives in Houston recently & that excites me. They have been renting out warehouses, lofts, & store fronts in the downtown area for a couple weeks & hosting their exhibits. That is an excellent alternative than having to wait for a curator or a gallery in Houston to find you. I believe in any city you're in, the best thing you can do is find a community & any available space you have the capacity to take on & create into your installation space. That can mean even showing in your own home or reaching out to venues & coffee shops. Houston is filled with extremely talented people, & it's also filled with warm approachable people who would probably be willing to help. While living in San Francisco, one of my best friends Quinn Martin, & our professor, decided to create an exhibition & they ended up hosting it in a mattress store. You really just need to ask until someone says yes.
What would you say is the overarching story that your art tells?
RR: My arts focus is telling my own personal story & the process of me healing & forgiving. I like to look at my work as chapters in a book of my life. Certain pieces being before me, the prequel. The story is explaining what happened in history, in the 1400's, in 1928, in 2002, etc. What events occurred that created consequences leading up to me now. I go back & forth between making work for the past & the present, & using references for both. I get to heal while also learning the history of colonization, immigration, politics, prison reform, & so forth.
You’ll be showing work in London & at Basel soon. Can you share the details as far as where collectors will be able to see your work if they’re headed to either of those parts of the world? When & where will your pieces will be exhibited, & what can we expect to see?
RR: Yes! So I won't be showing in Basel but I will be there supporting my friends. I would love to show in Basel one day and am hoping my presence sets the tone for the future. For London, I will have work showing in a group show 'En Vivo Y A Todo Color' curated by Antonio Del Valle Lago at Eve Leibe Gallery November 11, 2022. I am showing a new piece, 'Empezo El Parche.' This piece is very different from what I normally make even though there are still tones of Latin American history, my personal narrative & of course my reptilian textures. I am excited to start moving my story into a different conversation & new scenery.
Before you go,
Art Basel is now behind us, or at least one of them is. SXSW, Sundance Film Festival, & the 2023 NYFW season loom ahead.
Regardless of whether or not you’ll be attending, exhibiting at, or completely ignoring these events, they say something about our search for artistic works & ways to incorporate them into our daily lives as attached to the renewal that comes along with a new year. Even a post-resolution new year. (I’m not linking any articles about this as a phenomenon, if you know you know.)
That said, there’s so much to engage with in the movies right now.
Cultural commentary that touches on the invisibility of service industry members as well as aspirational impossibilities, & a blinding level of unfettered access born of late stage capitalisim offer depth to Triangle of Sadness, as well as context for momentary surrealism & on the nose symbolism (sinking ships…) to a word of mouth find for a writer who has been based anywhere except for the matrix of film advertisement over the past 8 months or so.
Triangle of Sadness also offers desire, for more decadent & dark film watching. For a re-watch of Eyes Wide Shut, for a two season binge of White Lotus, for champagne & a projector & a screening of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette - a film that inspires re-watches of Uncut Gems & Forrest Gump. Because all of these films are about life & its fragility. Stories about life are stories about capacity & circumstances when told honestly. They remind you that there but for the grace of God… & all that.
But let’s lighten things up a bit, because speaking of Forrest Gump (& so Tom Hanks), someone should connect me with Chet Hanks for the next newsletter. In the meantime, let me plug you in with the latest & greatest of the Recommended:
Read
ARTnews reports that art scammer Brian Walshe is being looked at in connection with the murder of his wife. It’s art world meets true crime & one of those fascinating human stories just mentioned.
Wear
Impeccable boutique women’s lingerie brand Fleur du Mal just debuted menswear. The pieces pour hommes are made with recycled materials like lace & the ladies will love them too.
Shop Fluer du Mal Pour Hommes through the Le Newsletter affiliate link.
While on the subject of sustainable apparel & accidentally unisex fashion, a forthcoming women’s collection from Bode is something to look out for. As an exclusively menswear focused brand, Bode has constructed interesting & well made pieces from archival textiles in historical inspired designs. What they’ll do with women’s wear is yet to be seen, Something to be excited about, & a perfect que to book me for personal styling & shopping services.
Top off your Bode look with a trucker hat. Yes, a trucker hat. Just watch the Hulu documentary on Von Dutch - the trucker hat is a cultural staple & deserves a Prodigal Son style reception. Restore your collection with caps from indie makers like Mark Sabino (mentioned in the SENSORY issue), Girls Are Drugs (they just dropped a hot little red backpack), & Love Never Died - a brand releasing limited seasonal collections.
Work
Create Magazine & Visionary Art Collective are collaborating on Inside A Memory, a virtual exhibition looking at & presenting art as a culmination of all that we have experienced. Submbit your work here before February 5th for a chance to be featured in the exhibition & printed in Visionary Arts.
Artists creating visual, literary, theatrical, & many other sorts of works have until March 1st to apply for the Martin House Residency in Buffalo, NY. Apply & find additional details on this project based residency here.
Art to Hearts is looking to platform emerging Contemporary artists through publication in the Studio Visit Book, a small print publication to be shared with galleries. Find more information about this publishing opportunity & submit your work here.
Watch
Heading to SXSW? Check out Chuchi & Adaliz, an anticipated Bay Area based comedy about the turns life takes, friendships, & the wide breadth of distance often found in people who come from “similar” backgrounds.
Rossana Romero | I do not know if it is a memory or un sueño, pero aveces siento el rio Magdalena en mi cuello
48x48
Oil on Canvas
Know
New York has banned PFAS, manufactured chemicals present in clothing & non-stick cook wear that the EPA has linked to cancer & harmful reproductive effects. More specifically, New York’s Mayor Kathy Hochul, who vetoed the Freelance Isn’t Free bill that protected freelance workers from illegal nonpayment by providing recourse backed by State power, has signed S6291A the bill which prohibits the sale of apparel sprayed with PFAS.
You may have heard about the chemicals recently in correlation with fast-fashion retailer Shein, but the use of these chemicals is not isolated to a single retailer or brand. Read more about fast-fashion & PFAS from Insider journalist Allana Akhtar, & get into the science behind PFAS & human health with this primer from the EPA.
While moving towards a more natural lifestyle, Le Newsletter encourages not just avoiding but also embracing. Putting things in & on your body that benefit you. Partnering as an affiliate with adaptogen based beauty & wellness brand Moon Juice is one way to promote health & support this work. So check it out. A specific recommendation? The Moon Juice Manual - a guide to cooking & healing naturally.
Party
Have you been to Wild? That’s a question for Le Newsletter’s Houston readers. It’s a bar, dispensary, & pleasant ambient surprise. They also serve brunch - newly a weekend affair, announced as a part of a slate of recent adjustments for the space & its event programming (they have yoga & a second location now too).
Check it out on Westheimer or on Shephard, & enjoy specialty coffee & cocktails from 8 AM everyday of the week.
Dallas based Texans will want to see works from artist Yuni Lee at the opening of Ro2’s new location. Save the date - Saturday, January 21st.
& if you’re in LA? Mix it up with orchestra night at the Orpheum Theatre. Tickets go on sale for a March 25th performance by Jeff Goldblum & the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra on January 20th. Get them here.
Until next time,
Ashley J.