Briefly describe the work you do. 

I do land art, sculpture, installation and performance. I work with granite, cement, ceramic, glass, I develop in big surfaces of land permanents labyrinths made by stones. I compose experimental music sets for each of my pieces. My art is rooted in a close relation with nature, the cycles and unconscious. Searching in the connections between my internal evolution and the external changes that I perceive, the essential meaning behind matter, simplicity of forms and movements. I work with Symbolism to simply resume my complexity. The performances i do are the result of observation and are produced by the feeling of the experience I’m living at that moment, in a “Art/Ritual” way of expression, focus on the ancients and sacred origins of ceremonies fused with contemporary perfomances and technology.

Tell us about your background and how that has had an influence on your work and on you as an artist.

I am the descendant of a line of artist’s, and this has been the most important background. I did an artistic high school, at the age of 20 I moved to Paris, where I stay living and working for 7 years. I worked in a very important contemporary art center, with many other artists of all around the globe, It changed me totally and   opened my mind. Then I decided to come back to my country, and develop a cultural Foundation with my family, we created a Sculptural Park, an open air museum in the Andes mountains, call “Parque de Las Artes, Reserva Cultural / Art’s Park, Cultural Reserve”. All this experience of life gives me what I am in the present and give me the foundations, concepts, techniques, the depth and the force of expressions of my art.

The concept of the artist studio has a broad range of meanings in contemporary practice. Artists may spend much of their time in the actual studio, or they may spend very little time in it. Tell us about your individual studio practice and how it differs from or is the same as traditional notions of “being in the studio.”

I spend much time working in my studio, to sculpt I need a wide work space, I use heavy materials, tools and machines, and I need a big concentration, but also I work outdoors, I can say that most of the time the roof of my studio is the sky.

What roles do you find yourself playing that you may not have envisioned yourself in when you first started making art?

I started doing art at a very early time in my life, so I couldn’t imagine any future, i was playing. Now, when I think all the techniques, expressions and forms of art I have used, and the expansion of possibilities to express myself, I’m amazed. Doing performances, video projections, and sound landscapes, to my sculptures and installations, and travel with my art is something I never have envisioned, in a way is always a big surprise, new roles are necessary to be played, and i’m ready for that. 

When do you find is the best time to make art? Do you set aside a specific time everyday or do you have to work whenever time allows?

I think each art piece has their own time to be born. I’m every day working in different forms, and if is not the time to work outside in nature, will be a good moment to work in the computer inside, or drawing, or working on concepts, for new or for older pieces. When I work in land art, I work during the day time, when nature allows me, it depends if is not raining or snowing or if is a sunny day. For sculptures I work in the afternoons, but if I have an exhibition I work 100 percent on that, for music I prefer the night. But my time for work is always changing, depending on the projects that I have to achieve.

Photo credit: Ilka Floeren

How has your work changed in the past five years? How is it the same?

My work has changed a lot since I’m back in the Andes mountains before living in Paris. I used to have a very little atelier, so my sculptures and installations corresponded to that reality. Since I have all this land in my own place, I have a totally different perspective of art and possibilities in a wide space. I believe that a sensible artist is always influenced by the entourage, he transformed what he sees and fells all around him, if he is capable to get out of his own psyche, to perceive, reflect and be aware of a more universal reality, he will change, because I feel life is change. And in this way I can create an original form of art.

How have people such as family, friends, writers, philosophers, other artists or even pop icons had an impact on the work you do?

There are some artist that makes me feel a big inspiration, because of the forms they use, or their performances, concepts, or in the way they live their lives. My family also has a very strong and positive impact on my work.To see other artists is for me always a great impulse to create and continue working and believing.

Have you ever been pulled in the direction of a pursuit other than being an artist? What are your other interests? 

I am a multidisciplinary artist, my main focus is sculpture, but I researched also in contemporary dance, music therapy, I worked like VJ, transforming my paintings into psychedelic videos to be projected in music concerts, dance shows, theater pieces or discotheques. I worked like art producer, there are many things that interest me, but I think life is a creative flow, and my life is a piece of art that I create and perfect day after day, no matter what I do. 

About

Yamila Marañón was born in Mendoza, Argentina, in 1977. She comes from a family of artists, she studies at an art high school and at the age of 20 she moved to Paris, where she stay for 7 years, being part of a project of an important contemporary art center where she lived and worked. Then she comes back to Argentina to create a Cultural Foundation with the purpose of building a Sculptural Park, an open air museum in the Andes mountains, and she continue going to France and Germany to show her work. She has participated in several group and solo exhibitions in different cities of Europe and South America. Yamila Marañón currently lives and works in Uspallata Valley and Mendoza City, in Argentina.

Photo credit: Ilka Floeren

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All images copyright of the artist and used with their permission.