Today we’d like to introduce you to Pawel Salcedo.
Hi Pawel, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Born in Poland. Grew up in woodsy Massachusetts. Studied in Cyprus, Barcelona, and Boston.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It is too easy to become jaded, cynical, and just give up. When most of our popular culture in music and art is produced by wealthy kids who can afford the time and space to create, it is that much harder to “succeed” as a working class artist.
After years of making work, I found that being prolific in the studio is a surefire way to get things moving in your practice. If you make the art, have a large body of work, people will notice and things will begin to happen. Or, to use a trite business mantra; If you build it, they will come.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I found a discarded lottery ticket somewhere in my neighborhood years ago and had to pick it up it was so pretty. I stared at it and took it home. It was so inviting with all its colors, numbers, letters, and various images. I thought to myself how wonderful it would be as a larger painting. I brought it home and it sat in my studio for a year.
Upon painting the first few “scratch tickets” I became obsessed. This usually happens in all my series; I need to make dozens of version of a single idea. Very much like the cereal aisle at a grocery store. Call it repetition mindset.
Upon working on these for about a year, they began to develop their own concept. Money, labor, class, the economy, and certain truths about the art world we seldom talk about. How many artists are out there putting in the time and money into their practice in the hopes of a “big break.” How much monetary cost it took to make a single artwork? What was the actual profit? When you do the math, sometimes these sales or commissions are not as glamorous as the artist claims. The more I painted these seemingly fun “scratch-offs” the more they became the perfect symbol for what so many artists live through: A lottery. A gamble. A risk. Sometimes a big risk.
I realized that the act of purchasing a lottery scratch ticket was analogous to the life of an emerging practicing artist.
You buy a lottery ticket, invest the money, and hope to win.
You invest in art supplies and materials, spend hours creating, and hope to sell.
Sometimes you do. Sometimes you don’t.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The most important lesson I have learned along the way (among many others) is to let go of your ego. Forget about the audiences approval while creating. Just make it. Don’t make art to be cool. Make it because you want to. You should be making it because you NEED to. Don’t worry too much about being clever or too witty. If you’re academic that’s great. If you’re not—that’s okay. You don’t have a be jerk to make great art. Finally, people might like what you make for all the wrong reasons, and that’s okay. That’s why art is so intoxicating—nothing matters.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pawelsalcedo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pawel_is_you?igsh=M29kZDIxMmF5cnRi&utm_source=qr
