Cece Carpio – The Beauty of Struggle

Posted on | August 14, 2009 | No Comments

with_light International street artist, teacher and canvas painter Cece Carpio caught my eye with her powerful portraits, which quietly reveal individuals of extraordinary strength, insight and beauty. Further digging connected me with an artist of great conviction and heart, manifesting her vision and ideals through her creations.

Cece’s Bio: From the mountains of the Philippines to the hustle of Brooklyn, Cece Carpio paints constantly. Equal parts illustrator, muralist and canvas painter, her work combines bold portraits, natural elements and historical moments to tell stories that move. Her heart beats for the Bay Area, hip hop, freedom fighters worldwide and everyday people struggling for survival. She can often be found painting with her crew the Trust Your Struggle Artist Collective, working in collaboration with other artists, teaching arts education and traveling around the world in pursuit of the perfect wall.

She has produced and exhibited work in the Philippines, Fiji Islands, Cuba, Italy, Norway, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, California, New Mexico and New York.

Your pieces seem to be part journalistic, reminding us how things are, and part inspirational – a celebration of strength and beauty. Do you start a piece with a message or theme in mind or do you let it emerge on its own? I paint what I see and how I feel. I love people. I love our stories. I record them through painting. Many times I feel like a visual translator of the people I meet and the places I’m at, [capturing] glimpses of history, experiences, hopes and dreams. I love to paint the beauty of struggle. It makes it less of a struggle.

I have no formula in starting pieces. Sometimes the story creates the image, sometimes the image creates the story, sometimes they come together at the same time and sometimes I just let the audience tell their own stories of what they see.

When did you realize the power that art has to move not just our hearts, but our consciousness as well? Any key inspirations? The power of art [has] always done that for me. The art [pieces] I love are the ones that emphasize the strength and beauty that we sometimes ignore or forget when we get caught up in the challenges that life presents to us. Art has the power to create that change we want to see. Art is a lens. It can filter our views, move our hearts, change our perspectives…it’s magic.

And when I see a piece that I’m really feeling, inevitably my consciousness is also touched. Heart and consciousness come hand in hand, an inevitable couple that can’t be separated. It’s similar to when I hear an amazing song, read a really good book, see a dope movie or listen to stories that folks tell me…my inspirations come from everywhere. I am constantly inspired by the people who struggle everyday for a more dignified existence. They are the ones who teach me how to love and fight.

What’s new with the Trust Your Struggle collective? Trust Your Struggle is definitely still in the hustle. We have a a show coming up on September 11 at our Hometown in San Francisco at D-Structure Gallery. We are again in the planning of doing our 3rd tour. We are planning to head out to the Philippines, my hometown, by next year so we are on the grind.

Can you talk about the importance of street art? Street art is an amazing way to display work. It allows the whole city to be our gallery. Everyone is welcome, free of charge.

Street art and city walls also allow you to create, [knowing] the piece may not last, and there’s a beauty in that. It’s creation and destruction. You create and you let go. It keeps me painting, it keeps me humble.

What’s your ideal workspace? Walls. With lots of water and good food around.

The intricate backgrounds and ornaments you create really add dimensions to the stories. Are they freestyle? Do you sketch your pieces out? Work from photos? What’s the inside scoop? The backgrounds I paint are from all sorts of places. They can be patterns I see in someone’s skirts, patterns I see in my dreams, patterns I accidently made…sometimes its freestyle, sometimes it’s mimicked from what’s around me. Sometimes I sketch out my pieces, sometimes I go straight in the wall and because I like to draw portraits, many times I work from photos of people I meet. There’s no real secret. I have no formula, most times I just figure it out as I go.

What’s your perfect day? My perfect day involves eating good food, sharing stories, experiences and laughter with folks, hearing my niece’s voice, getting a call from my brother and sister just to say hello, adding lines and colors on a grey wall, tropical sun, island breeze, being reminded that my folks got my back, and really truly believing that another world is not only possible [but that] we are doing our part to see it all happen.

Anything you’d like to add? That’s all for now, and hoping that there will be a next time. Thank you.

Get in touch with Cece through her MySpace or Facebook and keep your eyes out for the Trust Your Struggle Art Collective in a country near you.

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Cece Carpio – The Beauty of Struggle

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