Short Answer Sunday: Arjan Zazueta

Meant to elicit quick, intuitive responses, Short Answer Sunday will introduce readers to a wide variety of artists, educators, writers, curators, arts professionals, art enthusiasts and art adjacent individuals whose inclinations I admire. With the intent of getting to know the person behind the artwork as well generating new avenues to artistic discovery, participants may respond with only a few words or an artist’s name, always with the opportunity to elaborate if they wish!

I have been an avid follower of Arjan Zazueta’s work since meeting him in the late 2000s. He works in a broad range of media, however, I see drawing as a through line between bodies of work. The first work of Arjan’s that I came across, probably in 2008 or 2009, was certainly aligned with drawing, although the delicate marks were constructed using stitched, cotton thread on (wait for it) paper towels. These ephemeral works on this most accessible of surfaces was eye-opening for me as a recently-MFA-ed artist figuring things out (and I still think of them often).

Arjan’s recent work, which I’ve loved getting to see on Instagram, is more easily recognizable as drawing. The sensitive touch is still there, in these lovely, layered colored pencil drawings of oobleckian figures in a range of positions and environments. The drawings are simultaneously silly and beautiful and the aforementioned blobby subjects hint at the collective mood (exhaustion and absurdity in particular) that totally nails the contemporary zeitgeist.

Arjan and his partner Jennifer Bryan also jointly run REDHEAD, an artist-run exhibition space in Brooklyn.  No secret here, I have a giant soft spot in my heart for artists who are also opportunity creators and I’ve been enjoying following the gallery programming from afar.

I absolutely loved Arjan’s responses to my Short Answer Sunday questionnaire and I know that you will, too — thanks Arjan!

For more on Arjan Zazueta and his work, check out his website and follow him on Instagram.

xo, Lauren

Name: Arjan Zazueta
Occupation: Artist
Astrological data: Aquarius Sun, Libra Moon, Scorpio Rising
Hometown: Bridgeport, CT
Current location: Brooklyn, NY

Other than Instagram, how do you find new-to-you artists? 

 

It's MFA thesis season here in NY, so this is a great time to see lots of emerging artists. 

 

An artwork that makes you laugh?

 

Charles Ray, Portrait of the Artist's Mother at the Pompidou 2022.

 

An artwork that makes you cry?

 

I know it seems cheeky, but I still think about the Ann Hamilton "weeping" wall installation at the 1991 Carnegie International. This is still one of the most powerful pieces I've ever experienced. (editor's note: I couldn't find good images of this particular installation, but "Kaph", another of Hamilton's "weeping" pieces is linked.)

 

Most underrated artist?

 

Bonnie Collura. Her work is so good. I think she is one of our great American sculptors.

 

An artwork that you'd like to live inside for a week?

 

Stephen Mueller, Kabir 2011

 

Stephen Mueller
Kabir, 2011
Acrylic on canvas
57 ½ × 36 inches
Image source

An artist whose work you can't stop thinking about?

Louise Bourgeois. On my art family tree she is definitely one of my art mothers. She had such a tremendous art output in her lifetime.

 

An artwork that feels like a warm hug?

 

My other art mother is Helen Lundeberg. She is the best LA Hard Edge painter. I love her work so much.

 

Erotic artwork? (editor's note: this is a multiple choice question)

 

Yes: ✅

 

What's an artwork that doesn't look like art?

Felix Gonzalez Torres, Untitled (Perfect Lovers). Damn, such a poignant piece.

 

Félix González-Torres's artwork "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers) (1987-1990) at the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art
Image source

 

What's an artwork that you suspect that you shouldn't like, but you do (guilty pleasure)?

Anything Frida Kahlo and David Hockney

 

What's an artwork that you secretly hate?

Yeah I hate some things, you won't know, but there will be signs.

 

Fav monograph or art book?

Louise Bourgeois catalog from Cheim and Read 2001. The fabric works.

 

Fav museum or gallery in your current city?

I love PS1 because I'm always surprised by something unexpected. It also holds a lot of nostalgia for me.

 

Last exhibition you saw irl?
 

Kenny Rivero at Charles Moffet Gallery - A real knockout show

 

An artwork that you'd like to see before you die?

The Giotto Chapel in Padua

 

What art material do you love to nerd out on?

I love paint - I'm not sure it loves me

 

What was the last thing that you listened to in the studio?

Gamelan

 

What's a book that changed your life?

I usually have several books I'm reading at once, but never finishing. But, Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hyde is one that is really important to me.

 

What song, book, podcast or film do you think everyone should know about?

As a family we just watched the entire Alien(s) franchise including Alien Earth, in movie chronological order. These movies are oddly timely.

❤

Arjan Zazueta (b. 1977, Loma Linda, CA) is a visual artist based in Brooklyn, NY. He received a BFA in Sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002 and an MFA in Sculpture from Syracuse University in 2009. His primary work is grounded in drawing, focusing on color and form while considering the ways the figure, landscape, and abstraction can coexist. His exhibitions include Jenkins Johnson Projects, Brooklyn, NY, Tilton Gallery, New York, NY; Rush Arts, New York, NY; Dog and Pony Projects, Buffalo, NY; Bemis Underground, Omaha, NE; Munson Williams Proctor Museum of Art, Utica, NY, among others. He has attended residencies at The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Vermont Studio Center, and The Ora Lerman Trust at Soaring Gardens. He lives with his partner Jennifer Bryan, a fiction writer and his daughter Sadie and is a competitive powerlifter. 

For more info on Arjan Zazueta, visit his website and his Instagram!