BIO:
Crixo Aponte is a sculptor and architect born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1973, where at an early age studied drawing, painting, photography and color. After achieving his degree in Architecture, Crixo ventured to France, Italy and Spain, where he practiced while dedicating himself to studying and experimenting with different forms of sculpting. Upon his return to Venezuela, he knew that it was his true passion.
My desire is to create urban spaces with monumental pieces. I want to provide these spaces with a work that can serve as an urban icon, a point of reference and a meeting place in order to interactively integrate sculptures with the context of the urban plot
Crixo creates unique pieces and experiences for public, private and corporate spaces, be it a sculpture on a monumental scale or a piece for a small and intimate space. His work is about creating places, capturing the imagination and fostering a moment of creative contemplation between the viewer, the environment and the sculpture.
Hi Crixo! Could you tell us how and when your relationship with art started?
In my case, everything started with drawing. We all express ourselves from the moment we are born. Before handling the structured and complex spoken and written languages we find drawing, an infinite language that gives us a full freedom in a period of our lives in which we do not have much structure. We all "discover" drawing in the moment we notice the imprint that our finger leaves on the ground or the crayon on a sheet, a table, the refrigerator, or a wall. Then we look at it, we share it, we generate an opinion, we inevitably generate a mental speech: I like it or I don't...what do I like about this drawing and why? I believe that art is born with us… it’s something that we all experience, it’s inherent to the human being.
How did this proximity with sculpture begin?
In my childhood, my favourite game was always modelling things, I did it with everything that came to my hands: clay, plasticine or bread crumbs. I liked to recreate animals or characters, everything that caught my attention. Art was always intimately associated with play for me, a game that later became curiosity and experiments with form and different materials. Little by little a discourse began to be produced in me.
How do you choose your materials?
I like soft materials like plaster or clay to make my models, they allow me to make formal decisions with a certain fluency, then comes the choice of materials for the final sculpture: bronze, aluminum, stainless steel, resin, fiber glass, stone, or any other, so this will depend on many things: the dimensions of the sculpture, its formal characteristics, the client's requirements, whether the sculpture will be outdoors or indoors, etc.
AMINA is sumptuous, serene and stable, its volumes and cavities form a whirlpool
of voluptuous balance.
Do you have an artist who has inspired your own art practice or any artwork in particular that has influenced you?
As an artist I’m inspired by many things; music, cooking, poetry, a conversation, the shapes and folds of the body, the clouds... anything that flatters my senses will at some point be transformed into form and voluptuousness. The sculptures of Francisco Narváez, GEGO, Isamu Noguchi, Henry Moore and Hans Arp in my adolescence were key to dedicating myself to sculpture, they opened my senses to what art could do for places, what it could make people feel, their works they were very inspiring for me.
Erect, voluptuous and proud, VENUS receives and gives everything. It’s pregnancy
is absolute potentiality.
Which reaction or feeling do you want to provoke on the viewer? Can you share with us some reactions that pleased you and pushed you to keep working?
I’ve received many positive and flattering comments about my work, people are curious and attracted to sensual curves without beginning or end, they want to touch them, feel them, have them. They find them elegant, suggestive, inviting, enigmatic, they give them multiple meanings. A few years ago I did an exhibition at the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas, in which the attendees were invited to touch all the works on display, they were small works, from about 15 to 35 Cubic centimetre. People at first did not believe they could really touch the art object because art is almost always about to see and not to touch. Passing the sculptures made them connect with themselves, invited them to be present. They passed the works over their faces as if it were a caress. I want my sculptures to always be an invitation to imagine.
Could you describe your work in one word?
Sensuality
Anything planned for your future? New mediums, art residencies, webinars that you would like to share with us?
Yes, I have several future projects: one of luminescent monumental sculptures, that can function as places of reference and encounter in the city. I also have in mind a series of sculptures of about 15 or 20 Cubic centimetre of latex, that imitate the texture of human skin, made to be touched, like pets. I would like to explore materials such as rubber, different types of wood, wall sculptures, continue with drawing, painting ... this is just beginning!
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