Freeway Editions has been talking about Rero's upcoming 2015 show in LA for sometime now. We finally had the chance to sit down and speak with the artist in November. His visit to Los Angeles was all about production and preparation for exhibition in the new year, however amongst this chaos Rero was kind enough to talk to us! We were excited to speak about his artistic background and to hear about his new series of work. Here is what Rero had to say!
Tell us a bit about your background. Where did you grow up? How did you start making art?
I grew up In Paris and started making art with graffiti because it was the easiest way to express myself. Historical art needed to have a lot of studying and contemporary art was too elitist for me so graffiti gave me the most spontaneous way to start making art.
Have you always worked with text or did you also work in image specific subject matter?
I was doing experimentation with image, text, and texture and I through this experimentation I found my way to decode. I realized that the text becomes the image and it started to make more sense to just use text, asking questions.
You make work in both public spaces and for gallery exhibitions, can you talk about how different those two environments are and how you create artwork for each?
The context where I install my artwork is the most important so it’s about how my work interacts with the place. I use mediums and spaces that are not created to be used as an art medium or meant to receive pieces of art.
When you are in front of a painting you don’t see the hand of the artist you just see the chemicals and the paint and the connection between the paint and the organic physical result. My work is a reinterpretation of things and places.
And speaking of gallery shows, can you tell us a bit about the show you have planned for the beginning of next year?
It will be about gated communities. The show is all about borders and how we need to create limits in order to cross these limits. You need to know the limits and then how to transverse them.
How is this work different?
Now my work the line is becoming invisible yet it’s still there. It was more a question and now the questions I ask are more subversive. You can choose to not see it.
And finally, tell us about your time in LA? You’ve been here working on new pieces and prints, what’s that like? What kind of new prints can our Freeway Editions followers look forward to?
Being in Malibu Canyon makes me more connected to nature it gives a new energy to my work. The new prints reflect that notion as well as the new direction the text is taking.
Stay tuned for more information about Rero's solo exhibition in January 2015!