Hugo Crosthwaite is a tireless artist who shares his creative time between New York, Mexico and back over the boarder to San Diego. Hugo consistently elevates the lyrical virtues of graphite into deep emotion where varying shades of black pour into a liquid pool of overwhelming narrative. (Above, Bartolomé, 8 x 8 feet, 2004, Graphite and Charcoal on Wood Panels, Collection of San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California, detail).
Hugo Crosthwaite’s large scaled works are currently being featured at the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and San Diego Museum of Art. (Above, Linea - Escaparates de Tijuana, 2003, 24 x 192 inches).
Hugo captures a modern mythology that defies contemporary tradition, choosing layers of graphite over paint. Hugo’s artistry offers a unique voice that stands alone and is quickly being heard by the world’s finest institutions. Proudly, I was able to catch up with Hugo Crosthwaite immediately after his latest installation at the Wignall Museum.
mM : How does the border between Mexico and America influence your work?
The urban environment is, like my work, very improvised. Everything at the border is built on top of each other, smashed up against one another. This contrasts the clean, geographical lines and the openness of San Diego. The border is a place where everyone is looking to sell something to the U.S. – elotes, souvenirs, drugs. (Above, three images from the Tijuanarias series featuring 102, graphite and white out works on paper, 5.5 x 8.5 inches, 2012).
Growing up I worked in my family’s curio shop selling souvenirs to tourists. The livelihood of both cities depends on the other – the two cities share a symbiotic relationship.
mM : What is your modern reinterpretation of Goya’s Black Paintings in your work or do you find a parallel between the expression of hope and despair between you and Goya?
Hugo : Goya was one of the first artists I discovered at a young age when I started to learn about art. I am deeply inspired by Cervantes, Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, and the etchings of Gustave Dore, but it was Goya’s etchings of the Caprichos and the Desastres, (below), that made a major impact on me because this was the first art I had ever saw.
I was immediately drawn to his line and drawing aesthetic. What also drew me to Goya was his sensibility to social issues – he was one of the first socially-minded painters who exposed the negative aspects of society during the invasion of the French Napoleonic army. Like the Renaissance painters who painted the propaganda of the Medici, Goya painted the court too, but he also painted the realist issues of the time. His intentions were different from other painters of his time because he juggled the conservative mindset of the political structure with his own liberal-minded beliefs and observations.
Growing up in Tijuana, I was very aware of the social issues going on in the third world versus the neighboring first world; discrimination, inequality, lack of education, etc. – these were all things I was exposed to. We are looking to the first world through the lens of the third world. Another commonality is the influence of Spanish Catholicism and the role of religion, which also appears in my work. I am a draftsman, not a painter, so my work tends to be black and white, like Goya’s. (Above, three images from the Tijuanarias series featuring 102, graphite and white out works on paper, 5.5 x 8.5 inches, 2012).
In the creative process, I feel more akin to writers than painters because my work is very immediate and improvised. I have to progress to the drawing. Because of this, there is not usually a direct message, not a cut and dry story because the visual interpretation is a result of my process. It is open enough for anybody to reflect, to insert their own narrative. (Above, Guerra # 10 (The Innocent), 24 x 18 inches, 1998 and Vision de Juana, 48 x 48 inches, 1999, Graphite and Charcoal on Wood Panel).
For instance, in my War series of 1998, I was personally dealing with something very bleak, but many found the work to be hopeful. I may paint one way, but the viewer may see it in another. Visual language is not as clear-cut as the word, that way the viewer imprints their own experience on my work through the issues I present in the narrative. (Above, Lion Hunt, Graphite, Charcoal, White Ink on Canvas, 68 x 67.25 inches, 2007 and Exotica, Graphite and Charcoal on Canvas, 71 x 68 inches, 2008).
mM : What is your approach to large installation pieces? Is there a central plan in your mind, or do you allow yourself the freedom to explore a single theme and expand while you are creating your works? (Above, installation details from Tijuanarias, Luis de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, 2012).
Hugo : As with my other monumental wall murals, I did not premeditate the outcome of Guadalupana March. I began with the larger concept of the evolution of myth, religion and superstition in Mexican culture and came up with the title of the piece Guadalupana March paying homage to Francisco de Goya’s A Pilgrimage to San Isidro, (detail below).
I had decided that the that the mixed media installation would manifest current social and political themes in Mexico as an extension of the work I did in Tijuanarias. I wanted to repurpose the cut-out figures from Tijuanerias, as I felt they could have an extended dialogue beyond the one I had already finished. However, the layout and contextual details were shaped entirely during my process. Installations are works that respond to a space, and as such, I do not use preliminary drawings, allowing my work to develop organically.
When approaching a wall or seeing a space for the first time, I take into account the environment and the existing work that surrounds it. For instance, the fragmented outlines of the painted gray areas echo the nebulous edges of the hanging installation directly across from Guadalupana March (above). The skate board piece on the wall to the right with the skull, informed my decision about using the skulls, the light poles relate to a painting in the show and etc.
I loved the sight-lines that curator, Amy Galpin used in Behold, America!, (SDMA), and saw how they add to the narrative of my piece and each of the other works to create a larger conversation in that section and the total experience of the exhibition so I deliberately created a site-specific relationships, letting details that already exist within a space and other works inform the narrative.
I began Guadalupana March by laying down the solid areas of grey paint, and then I applied cut-out drawings to each area, adding and embellishing as I moved across the wall. First, I painted the corn cart on then moved to the right side of the mural to work on the homage to Santa Muerte, then added in Coatlicue, the Aztec figure, (far right), and finished by rendering the three marchers in the center which to unify the retables on either side. My total working time was 26 hours over three days. (Guadalupana March details above).
Kind thanks to Pierrette Van Cleve and Hugo Crosthwaite for taking time out to make this wonderful exchange happen. Hugo Crosthwaite will be featured in the first California-Pacific Triennial at the Orange County Museum of Art taking place June 30 through November 17, 2013. Super congratulations and we can not wait to see more of your work soon. (Learn more: Tijuanarias at Luis de Jesus, and read more: Morbid Curiosity, Brutal Beauty and Van Cleve Fine Art).