aitv: Give us a little background: Where were you born? Where have you lived?

Vasquez: I am an evolving American artist who happened to have been born in a colonial Mexican town. My early childhood was spent traveling with my widowed mother between Tecolotlán, Jalisco and Galveston, Texas .

Speaking of your mother, a piece you are currently working on features the two of you. It is based on a photograph taken when you were a child in which you claim she is drawing away from you. How has your relationship with your mother affected you and your art.

Yes, I always felt ignored by my Mother and everybody else around me. My father died when I was one year old and soon thereafter my mother took a lover with whom she had three more kids (and dedicated all of her time to them). Most artists never stop being kids and the way we keep trying to get attention is through our art.    

When did you first realize that you would become an artist?

I have been drawing since I can remember, copying paintings from the boxes of matches (cerillos clásicos), which have miniature reproductions from the renaissance and other classic periods on the back of each box. That was my first encounter with fine art. At the age of 19, after attending 12 different educational institutions, which included Catholic schools, I left Mexico behind and adopted Los Angeles as my new and more cosmopolitan home.

Where have you studied?

I studied under a couple dozen art instructors at Otis Parsons, Los Angeles City College and Academia Jorge Palomar in Guadalajara , Jalisco. These teachers have shown me numerous tricks and how to use an infinite number of art materials. But all of these are obsolete if they aren't used or mixed with our deepest sincerity and reality. That's the only way I can make powerful art. If it's not done with all my love and raw spirit it's not worth showing it to the art viewer.

Do you believe that fine art can be taught?

Twenty percent can be. Color theory, design drawing, composition, technology and anatomy would all be very difficult to master without help. My best teacher was Chris Warner at Otis Parsons; he taught me about the human anatomy and life drawing, about the positions of the body and its subtle gestures. 80% of artistic ability, however, is innate. You have it or you don't.

Is Fine Art relevant in today's world?   Absolutely, but as artists, we need to keep it relevant by reinventing and rethinking art. We, as American artists, should be inventing a truly American art that goes beyond Warhol and Hockney. We need to reflect on how we want to be remembered as Americans in the 21 st century.

So what do you propose?

Well, I've often thought that somebody could do something with the 2 nd and 3 rd Street tunnels in downtown L.A. Thousands of people travel through them everyday, but the experience is really non-spectacular. Incorporating video technology, sculpture, architecture and knowledge of how humans' perceive things, a huge, undulating mural could be created that surrounds and moves with the traveler. There would be a show for every car. Sure, it would cause accidents, but what an experience!

You are primarily a painter. As artists reinvent art, do you think painting will become obsolete? Do you think painting is a dying art form?

No. People have been trying to pronounce painting dead for almost 100 years. Painting will always find ways to survive, just in different ways.  

There are so many designations—Chicano artist, Latino artist, Los Angeles , Hispanic artist. How do you choose to describe or label yourself as an artist.

I am an American artist who happened to be born in Mexico . I understand the Chicano art movement and love it. It represents the expression of immigrants who felt alienated and unappreciated when they entered this country. I love the emotions, the energy and the color. The best of these artists may be John Valadez. But I am not a Chicano artist. Would I allow my work to be shown in an exhibit claiming to feature Chicano art? Sure. They can put me in any exhibition they want. I am comfortable in most forums.

Really? Well, a curator friend is putting together an exhibition of African-American feminist art. Would you be interested in submitting a few pieces?

Uh, I don't think so.

Who is your favorite artist and what is your favorite piece of art?

Art connoisseurs and real artists don't have one favorite artist. We just keep watching and discovering outstanding exhibitions, and maybe obsess about a latest preferred piece of art.

I can accept that. Perhaps you can describe a currently preferred piece of art or exhibition.

I just returned from Las Vegas where I went specifically to see a show called “In Search of Pleasure” at the Guggenheim Hermitage. I was bowled over by three pieces: Chagall's “Green Man”, Max Beckman's “The Banquet” and Velazquez' “The Card Players”.

C'mon, what's your favorite piece?

Okay, since you're pushing me, I will say that my favorite all time piece is “The Spring” by Almatadema. At least it is today. It's at the Getty.  

Where is your favorite place to go see art in Los Angeles ? Do you have a favorite museum or gallery?

My favorite permanent collection in Los Angeles is the Norton Simon and my favorite gallery is Jack Rutberg, because they consistently have the strongest art. In my opinion, the first great art-science exhibition of the 21st century is Body Works at the Museum of Science and Industry by Dr. Gunther von Hagens, a German medical doctor and artist. It's quite amazing—a combination of medical technology, sculpture and painting.  

I‘ve heard of it; how does painting play a part in what he does?   Von Hagens, for example, takes a cat and cross-sections it into 2- dimensional images that show the creature's internal structure in amazing detail. They are very thin like strange and beautiful paintings.

Let's talk about your technique: You do something I've never seen another artist do; you intricately sew images from one canvas onto another. It's become one of your trademarks. Why do you sew so? What is the significance of this technique?

You also adhere bolts, washers, coins, screws, pieces of tile, matchsticks, copper wire and other found objects to your canvases. Why do you use these items?

I like to walk down by the railroad tracks—you know, the one's next to the L.A. River in Lincoln Heights by the Woman's Building. I find objects, mostly metal and iron, and I pick them up. I like that these objects have been on a journey and kind of carry the essence of some original owner. I once had over 500 pieces of metal, glass and other things in a sack underneath my bed. I know that these things will one day find their way into my art; nothing is accidental.

All artists revise and retouch their work, but I've noticed you take this practice to the extreme, sometimes radically altering a piece that seems by many viewers to be finished. What compels you to change certain pieces? When do you consider a piece complete?

I recognize that there is trouble knowing when my work is complete. As most artists agree, I guess it will be finished when it's out of the studio.  

After a sale, do you ever want to follow a piece home to make sure it is properly taken care of, framed, hung, house-broken? Does it ever occur to you after a sale that you would have liked to have changed something about a piece, and if so, have you ever acted on this impulse?

No, I trust that most people who choose to purchase my work will take better care of it than I do.

Then I don't have to worry about you smashing my window at night in order to retouch a piece that I've bought?

No.  

What's your favorite color?

About 90% of your paintings are portraits. Why do you prefer to paint people rather than objects, abstracts or landscapes?

I love painting portraits. Every time I start a new face I feel as if I have never painted before. I get a bit nervous and very excited since I know I'll discover a whole different world. The miraculously beautiful secret of life is in front of me over and over.

What makes you want to paint a particular person's portrait?

I paint only people I love and for people I love. I also prefer to paint men over women. Every one accepts that women are more beautiful (as do I), but to me men are more interesting; they are more like dirt or soil or earth.

Would you like to paint a portrait of that guy over there?

No thank you.

Portraits of Sergio Vasquez
by Matt Harbicht

Please check out Mr. Harbicht's site.