Heloisa Escudero
April 1-30, 2016
50/50 Interactive Drawing Installation Project
Contemporary art has extended the boundaries of concept and material. I see art in my everyday life … in lines created in snowy ground as pedestrians take short cuts through a field … in an electric cable on a street lamp that forms a delicate tangle at the top and gently slopes down and connects to the next post. Art has become more than a painting or a sculpture and this installation project emphasizes that growth. For me art is an expandable form of expression where imagination and possibilities are endless. The “50/50 Interactive Drawing Installation Project” makes use of ordinary materials like electrical wire, vinyl, nuts, bolts and clipboards to create a drawing that is viewer interactive. This interactive drawing gives a second life to the conventional functions of the objects.
Everyone has the innate ability to draw and to be creative, yet over the years I’ve been told countless times how lucky I am to have the artistic ability to create. Many ‘non-artistic’ people will claim, and I quote, “I cannot draw to save my life,” and this art piece intends to prove them wrong. This project installation celebrates just this creative ability that everyone possesses but only few realize they have, the ability to draw. The concept is simple, I facilitate 50% of the creative process and the rest is left to the viewer by changing the drawing. In this drawing installation viewers become an important part in the visual growth of the drawing, proving in a fun and playful way that you do not need to be an artist to be creative.
Heloisa Escudero grew up in São Paulo, Brazil, but relocated to the United States in 1987 where her interest in Fine Arts developed. She obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Art and a Master of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute. She holds American, Italian and Brazilian citizenships. She is interested in conceptually based art that is both tactile and interactive. Her most recent art projects focus on art that emphasizes the participation of the viewer. In 2007 she moved to Sweden where she worked as a full-time artist, creating four successful projects and exhibiting in Sweden as well as in Spain. During this time she built the first three BackPack Gallery Sculpture Units, starting the BackPack Gallery Project. In 2010, she relocated to New York City, where she collaborated with DJ Spooky (Paul D. Miller) in the project Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica. This collaboration was exhibited at the New York Photo Festival 2012. One of her exhibitions was held at the popular urban park, The Highline. In the beginning of 2013 Heloisa set up her studio in Arlington, Virginia, where she is working on collaborating with DC area artists on several projects. When Heloisa Escudero is not in her studio making art she is working at the Hirshhorn Museum as an Exhibit Specialist. Escudero has been showing in the DC area on a regular basis and her recent solo exhibition was at the Arlington Art Center where she was selected for the the Falls Solo 2014. The City of Alexandria Commission for the Arts has Awarded Escudero a Special Opportunity Art Grant for 2015-16 for the performance of the “Everyone Is A VIP” Project. In January 2017 she will have a solo exhibition at the New Gallery for Contemporary Art at Northern Virginia Community College.
