Today we’d like to introduce you to Nerea Arce Masnu.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
My name is Nerea and I was born in Argentina and moved to the United States when I was pretty young. I am an artist and I produce works as Kitapena, which is a local artist duo!
I have been drawing pretty much my entire life, my dad (who is the other half of Kitapena) is an artist, so my mom and he were always very supportive with the arts and making a “career” out of that. Which makes me really lucky because it’s almost like a nightmare for your kid to say they want to be an artist just because it’s very hard to do so. But I actually stopped painting for a while as I was trying to find what I wanted to do in life, so I went to college and I am working towards a degree in Social Work which I love. However, not so long ago I realized I really want to be creating and doing what I especially love… So, a couple of long years later- I’m back at it!
Please tell us about your art.
Kitapena in Spanish means to take away pity, and so when we started doing this, we wanted to create happy artworks that took us to another moment and in a way served as a distraction. But the political and social aspect was always present in our inspiration and ideas. Since we are living humans and we evolve and our definition and the way we see things also evolve and with everything that is happening in this world we realized that yes you can take away pity with happiness, but we also wanted to do it with consciousness. So, a couple of years later we’re doing something a little different.
So, our series so far of painted works and digital works are meant to plant a seed of consciousness about our earth and the people that live in it, no matter how much of a stranger they might seem. We want to provoke thinking (and hopefully action in some way) and awareness. Our pieces have a strong juxtaposition between poverty, vulnerability, and sadness with hope, freedom, and importance. For instance, we always place a gold crown on these “vulnerable” beings that might be considered weak. And the reason why we do that is that we want to give strength and importance to these beings.
It’s hard to say because I think we still have so much ahead of us but I think that with what we have now and the many more things to come, we hope that what people take away is consciousness. But also, we hope that people are impacted and affected enough to acknowledge the things that are happening- the way the world moves so fast an forgets so many, and also the way we really are all the same. The moment we begin to care about everything around us is the moment we become stronger.
happen.
We often hear from artists that being an artist can be lonely. Any advice for those looking to connect with other artists?
It can definitely be lonely- but honestly, I think Miami is growing a lot in the art sense, so there are always events happening. I guess my advice would be look and look and look for them- because they are there. Even if they may seem small, it’s always helpful to meet people in the field and to expose your work. And Instagram has its advantages, and one of them is that you can get in contact with local artists. And of course, if you’re not finding what you are looking for then create it! There are, I think, so many artists that are willing to get together.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
As of now, you can always check us out on our Instagram which is @kitapenaart. We have a lot of ideas and projects coming up soon, so I hope that everyone that is interested bears with us and continues to keep up with us so that when there are dates/locations set they will know!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @kitapenaart
Processed with VSCO with e3 preset
Image Credit:
My personal photo is from the Miami New times.
The rest are taken by us.
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