Volvemos a Argentina para adentrarnos en el mundo artístico de otro interesante creador rioplatense: Leandro Niro. Shirley Rebuffo nos presenta esta nueva entrevista, que acompañamos con tres posts repasando en imágenes la amplitud y variedad de su obra. Leandro se expresa utilizando diferentes medios y técnicas, tales como la cerámica, pintura, dibujo, acuarela, carboncillo...
Un primer post con cerámica y la entrevista en español, el segundo con la misma en inglés, y el tercero con una selección de sus dibujos y pinturas, y algunas preguntas y respuestas específicas sobre estas disciplinas.
We return to Argentina to delve into the artistic world of another interesting creator from Rio de la Plata: Leandro Niro. Shirley Rebuffo presents this new interview, which we accompany with three posts reviewing in images the breadth and variety of his work. Leandro expresses himself using different media and techniques, such as ceramics, painting, drawing, watercolor, charcoal...
A first post with ceramics and the interview in Spanish, the second with the same in English, and the third with a selection of his drawings and paintings, and some specific questions and answers about these disciplines.
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Leandro Niro
(Olivos, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1975-)
Leandro Niro junto a su obra "Sumergido" / with his work "Submerged"
Foto / Photo: Pablo Jantus (c) ARSOmnibus
"The idea is to give things a soul, to give them life and, within the figurative, to break the schemes and distort them in an arbitrary way without leaving an aesthetic harmony.", L.N.
Leandro Niro is an Argentine artist born on September 2, 1975 in Olivos, Buenos Aires.
He began his career experimenting as a self-taught artist. Later he attended several drawing and painting workshops, already with the decision to enter the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) in the career of Industrial Design. Realizing that his search was directed towards the plastic arts, he switched to the career of Graphic Design. Thus, in 1996 he enters the National School of Fine Arts "Prilidiano Pueyrredón", graduating as a national professor of sculpture. In 2004 he began the seminar of university equivalencies at the National University Institute of Art.
Leandro is characterized by a voice that communicates with a sincere serenity, typical of a master transmitter of knowledge. This means that when he describes his works, he announces his craft with exquisite detail.
He currently teaches sculpture, drawing and painting at Leo Tavella's workshop. He has made numerous exhibitions, being also juror in the 58th. Annual International Exhibition of Ceramic Art. He has given several lectures and seminars.
"Sumergido / Submerged", cerámica, hierro / ceramic, iron, 28 x 165 x 31 cm., 2017
"La familia ventosa / Cupping Glasses Family", cerámica, vidrio / ceramic, glass, 11 x 15 x 10 cm., 2006
"Esta fue una de las primeras obras donde comencé a poner cosas en la cabeza, siempre con objetos reciclados.", L.N.
"This was one of the first works where I started to put things on the heads, always with recycled objects.", L.N.
"Resurgir / Resurgence", cerámica / ceramic, 150 x 68 x 155 cm., 2017
Interview by Shirley Rebuffo
Shirley Rebuffo: You are a multifaceted artist, therefore, I have to ask a broad question: How, and why did you become an artist?
Leandro Niro: I don't know if I am multifaceted, but I like everything in the visual art world. Obviously now the visual theme has expanded a lot with the use of computers. We work with audio and video. It's not that I'm very involved, but I'm glad it's there.
I started drawing when I was six or seven years old. I never stopped. When you are a child you have certain interests that later decline, but in no way I gave up drawing because I always felt very comfortable expressing myself that way.
I have a family that has been changing little by little. Before, they didn't see art as a profession, they didn't see drawing, painting, sculpture as a career. They didn't see it as an economic outlet. But they still supported me because it was clear to me that my life came that way and there was nothing else with which I felt satisfied.
When I started high school, I began to turn towards design careers in the artistic field. I chose industrial design because I liked to draw cars. Then I turned to graphic design because it was more free, with freehand drawing, not so much theory or mathematics and physics.
They saw my inclinations and told me I should do fine arts. I honestly didn't know, and I looked through the phone books. I called and signed up. That's when I discovered sculpture.
When I finished my Fine Arts degree I wanted to continue sculpting and I looked for a workshop in an almost desperate way. I found Leo Tavella's, [September 23, 1920, Gálvez, Santa Fe - July 30, 2015, Buenos Aires], who came from the same experience of Fine Arts schools and then discovered ceramics. Today the U.N.A. (Universidad Nacional de las Artes "National University of Arts", that's the name of the workshop) is focused on fire arts. When I was a student, fire arts were not well regarded. We are witnessing a resurgence, but there are still people who don't like them. They don't consider ceramics as one of the strongest arts.
"Resurgir / Resurgence", cerámica / ceramic, 150 x 68 x 155 cm., 2017
"Clases / Classes", cerámica, madera / ceramic, wood, 40 x 8 x 50 cm., 2019
"The Scuba Series is a composition of different sculptures that highlight this object, expressing aesthetics, rigidity and beauty.
Although that object leads observers to take different interpretations and sometimes very ambiguous, the expression of the author in his works was that of Protection. To protect oneself from the unknown, from the exposure that sometimes weakens.
The scuba will be a tool, a nexus, a starting point to approach the deepest that dwells in us, leading us to a self-knowledge in search of truth. These depths meet us with different sensations and characters, from the most intimate and at the same time universal."
"Isaac & Mabel", cerámica / ceramic, 15 x 18 x 6 cm., 2009
SR: Is what you do the sum of your experiences, of your memories of those experiences, or of the history you have woven from them?
LN: There's a little bit of everything. There is a lot of practice, there are memories. I also inform myself and absorb other people's experiences.
I'm quite nostalgic. I like very much that stage of kids from 4 to 12 years old, when they have their whole life ahead of them. That stage of my life was one of the best and maybe that's why I feel the nostalgia. I like watching movies with characters of that age. My way of looking at it is that it's a stage where everything is picturesque. I look for a lot of information about that era, just like the one I lived through. It would be the 70s, when people played in the street, the clothes were different, the toys were different. I like to bring back that period of my childhood, and I take a lot of information from those memories: movies, photos, series, images.
SR: When did you introduce ceramics in your imaginary?
LN: Ceramics came into my world when I graduated in 2003. In 2000 I graduated as a teacher and in 2002 I took homologation courses. For certain reasons I started to look for a workshop and I came to Leo Tavella's workshop. After a few years Leo hired me as an assistant and for reasons of life he wanted me to be in charge of the workshop, in charge of his care since he was starting to be alone. All his students were a big family, we were close to him. I continue with the classes, now having my own students.
"Contra el raquitismo / Against Rickets", cerámica, madera / ceramic, wood
Izq./ Left: "Introspección / Introspection", cerámica / ceramic, 80 x 160 x 45 cm., 2014
Der./ Right: "Homenaje / Tribute", cerámica en molde / cast ceramic, 5 x 21 x 4 cm., 2021
SR: In your ceramic sculptures, you make works with a wide incorporation of materials: ceramics, papier-mâché, iron, wood... They are like a staging, achieving great dynamism. Is everything well thought out or does it all emerge as you make them?
LN: The world of ceramics opened up and I began to investigate the subject in depth. For me it is one of the most beautiful disciplines because what you do is what remains. There is no passage to bronze, no passage to plaster, you don't have to make a mold or anything. What it has is that it reduces, depending on the paste and the firing, once it dries and goes to the oven, it reduces approximately between 10% and 15%. That also has small drawbacks in terms of the assemblies. If something has to be added to what is made and it is modeled with that something that is not going to go to the oven, it is necessary to see the size, how it reduces, so that in the assembly it fits well.
You have to think about it beforehand, a priori. That object that I want to add to the ceramic is the trigger of the idea. Sometimes I want to create something from that object that I want to incorporate, and other times I want it to be the main part of the composition. Maybe I'm lying if I tell you that everything is thought out beforehand; it almost always happens on the fly.
Then there is the complication of the assembly. I think about how I'm going to solve it, how to finish the piece, what to add later. It is difficult to work everything a priori. There are always surprises. And for me those surprises are the most beautiful thing because they can even change the whole composition. For example, the girl with balloons, but how do I add the balloons? Well, yes, I made them with paper, but I never worked with papier-mâché, it was an innovation for me. I simply did it to make the balloons, so they wouldn't weigh so much.
Iron and wood are materials that I always keep in mind. I pick up wood and iron from the street and I think I'm going to do something with this or that. In other words, the whole composition is put together by means of a material I found. Or explore with the ceramics that I am modeling and at the same time thinking about what I can put in one part or another.
The scenographies are nice because I open myself to possibilities and add materials that are not all ceramic, because of the weight. The fact that they are assembled things means that the movement of the piece is not so dependent on aids and freight, but it is possible to move it and assemble it in other exhibition places.
"Camilleros / Stretcher-bearers", Serie Fútbol / Soccer Series
Cerámica, madera / ceramic, wood, 28 x 21 x 12 cm., 2017
"In this series I want to express or tell, with a spectator's view, part of some experiences, what happens to us with soccer in terms of passion, joy, sadness, nostalgia, disappointment, frustration, crying and... I can go on with more adjectives, because soccer is that.
But in this series I highlight and put a look at the defeats: the one who scored the goal, the stretcher bearers, the substitutes' bench, the fans, the one who listens to the game alone in a room. It is a look of nostalgia perhaps, but also about what they do not have, that protagonism, although they are always there.
I think soccer encompasses all this, because it's simply a matter of being attentive, and all these emotions appear.", L.N.
Serie Capuchas / Hoods Series, cerámica, madera / ceramic, wood, 26 x 16 x 12 cm., 2021
"Perplejidad metafísica / Metaphysical Perplexity", cerámica / ceramic, 50 x 195 x 50 cm., 2009
SR: The glazes you use on ceramics are single-use. Explain to us what that's like.
LN: Since I don't come from a ceramics school, my way of working is quite spontaneous, it's a matter of experimenting with my work. The result is the derivation of various influences: the firing, the paste, the raw material inputs, the amount of glaze that is added. All this changes constantly, it is a wide range. A ceramist has to see well the raw material, its preparation, make the samples properly and at the end put it in the last piece he wants to make. I almost never do tests, I send them directly to the sculpture.
Then there are certain enamels that, as the spray torch is used a lot in the workshop, this causes a lot of enamel to be wasted and I recover it again in the cabin. So I end up making another glaze with the rejoining of all that leftover. And there are things left over that, in themselves, do not have a formula, so when that glaze is finished, it no longer exists. It is a unique glaze, so when I use them, the piece becomes absolutely unique because the glaze is finished.
SR: What does it mean to you to enjoy your work?
LN: To be able to do it. Maybe deep down inside I knew that I wasn't going to stop doing this. I couldn't tell you if it was a hobby, a job or what I became, but I was never going to stop. Luckily I do it because I can do it, it's who I am and my income is from the classes, which I love. It's nice to teach, but the nicest thing is to make art, to express, to make sculptures, drawings, and if you can make a living from that, all the better. It is also nice to show it and receive what people perceive and feel. But I think the most pleasurable thing is to have something in your mind and do it. Sometimes I try to put myself in the head of people who don't need to do this and it's very difficult to understand. Just as there are people who don't understand why I want to do this, what's the point of doing something with clay, why spend hours with that clay. There are many people who don't understand why we do this kind of work. We do it because it satisfies us. It is something that is in our minds and then it is palpable, we can touch it: something that did not exist now exists. For me that is wonderful, I enjoy it very much. It means my life.
"Sereno / Night Watchman", cerámica, madera / ceramic, wood, 10 x 8 x 5 cm., 2009
"Basta / Stop", cerámica / ceramic, 25 x 32 x 12 cm., 2021
SR: What is your greatest weakness when facing a new creation?
LN: I don't think it won't come out. Nor do I think that it will be different from what I imagined. Then, if I don't like it, I don't like it. Sometimes in works I do for someone, if it already has a purpose, for whoever, or commissions, there are always difficulties. That makes me quite nervous because I work differently. They ask you for something and it has to be the same as something they had seen before. The energies are not the same. That's why I don't like to work on something in series, to redo something I liked. I like to do, to work on it, if it looks good, but if it doesn't look good, it doesn't. I think that's the weakness of working on something in series. I think that's the weakness of working on something already done. It's not so dramatic either.
SR: Could you comment on any artistic curiosity?
LN: I'm not one to be connected to what's going on in the art world. Maybe I'm wrong. I applaud when art opens up and new things appear. Sometimes, as I'm quite classic in my work, it's hard for me to see something that is very different from what I understand as classic-art. I don't understand that they buy a space and put branches and nothing else and people buy the paper and the title of the work. I have a hard time seeing that as art. I think that maybe I have to study it more, to know why they do that, if it is a form of criticism of today's world. I have to get more involved, to study these art forms. That's a curiosity.
"Elena y Fausto", cerámica, madera, hierro / ceramic, wood, iron, 125 x 50 x 100 cm., 2014
"En 'Elena y Fausto', Elena, la perra, es 'la musa inspiradora'. Está realizada con un barro español, tiene un poco de mira, óxido y cristal en el hocico y en los ojos. El coche está fabricado con cosas encontradas en la calle. Fausto está hecho con pasta blanca. La malla tiene esmalte y óxido de hierro y manganeso, muy suave, y un esmalte mate realizado con fundente plúmbico y carbonato de calcio. El chupete es el mismo barro de Elena.", L.N.
"Elena y Fausto", cerámica, madera, hierro / ceramic, wood, iron, 125 x 50 x 100 cm., 2014
"In 'Elena and Fausto', Elena, the dog, is 'the inspiring muse'. She is made with a Spanish clay, she has a little bit of [mira], rust and glass on the muzzle and in the eyes. The car is made from things found in the street. Fausto is made with white paste. The mesh has enamel and iron and manganese oxide, very soft, and a matte enamel made with plumbic flux and calcium carbonate. The pacifier is the same clay as Elena's.", L.N.
"Hay equipo / There's a Team", cerámica, hierro / ceramic, iron, 87 x 47 x 40 cm., 2008
SR: What have your travel experiences been like with regard to ceramics?
LN: I've been invited to seminars at some ceramic art schools. The experience is beautiful, like this thing we are doing now, internalizing and getting into what you do, which usually you don't think about as much. However, when I have seminars where I have to talk about my work, it makes me internalize more and think about what I'm doing and where I'm standing. That's nice, thinking about what I'm doing.
On my first trip to Europe, I had to take my stuff, I showed it, it had good repercussions, I sold work, I made contacts. The experience was beautiful. That experience makes it a part of the trip because it was my first trip to Europe, so I was more of a tourist. Maybe if I travel more, with more involvement in art, I will have other experiences that I'm sure will be very good.
"Nélida", cerámica, hierro / ceramic, iron, 100 x 160 x 100 cm., 2014
SR: Can you tell us about your workshop?
LN: As I mentioned, I started as a student in Tavella's workshop. It's a very old workshop. Leo has been working there for about 50 years. It is located in the northern area, in Acassuso [San Isidro, Buenos Aires province, Argentina]. It has three kilns, woodworking tools and all the working tools, big tables. It is divided in two: ceramics and sculpture, and pottery. I share the workshop with Stella Cardigonde, who is a potter. With her we gave the word to Leo Tavella to continue with the workshop open, so that it does not disappear. It is a kind of homage to Leo to always be there. I feel comfortable because, beyond everything, he always allowed me to work freely. I feel great respect for keeping his works alive, he also gave me the freedom to grow as an artist and not always be stuck to his art.
It is a beautiful workshop, with a lot of energy. Very old, it seems to be all messy, that everything is chaos, but it is not like that. It's nice, because wherever you look up you can see things of art. It gives me pleasure to be there.
Serie "Capuchas" / Hoods Series
Izq./ Left: Cerámica, madera, hierro / ceramic, wood, iron, 4 x 14 x 4 cm., 2020
Der./ Right: Cerámica / ceramic, 16 x 23 x 7 cm., 2021
"Tribuna / Stand", cerámica, madera, hierro / ceramic, wood, iron, 68 x 65 x 56 cm., 2017
SR: In relation to your role as an art teacher, what is the contribution of the artist who models his practice and works with students?
LN: I contribute because of what I studied in terms of composition, the way I teach. As an artist, in practice, I make things and my mistakes or what I get right, I pass on to my students. Sometimes as a trial or error, I transfer them and that makes some of their steps shorter and they don't enter into a failure. Everything I do and what I feel I can teach; what I feel is right, I pass it on to them as a teacher.
SR: What projects do you have for the future?
LN: There are always projects, I always find something to do. Drawing in a notebook, keeping those notes in mind makes me set topics and tasks. I always have projects to present in salons, National, municipal. That makes me work in bigger sizes, I don't feel comfortable in small sizes. I always propose these projects in order to have large works and then, if an exhibition comes out, I can show those works.
Projects with the theme of children, not with toys and their difficulties, but in situations. The scuba will always be there. Maybe as a goal I would like to do more drawings because sometimes I start them and then I put them aside, days go by and I would like to get more into the world of drawing.
Leandro Niro esmaltando en su taller / glazing at his workshop, 2007
¡Muchas gracias por la entrevista, Leandro!
Thanks a lot for the interview, Leandro!
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Shirley Rebuffo has a Degree in Library Science and a Degree in Archivology by the Universitary School of Library and Related Sciences (Montevideo, Uruguay), Technician in Museology by the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (Anthropology option), Object, Symbol and Spance in Curatorship Applied Museology and Social Museology - Concepts, Technics and Practice (Campo Grande, Brazil), Coaching (Campo Grande, Brazil), Strategic Planning (Campo Grande, Brazil), and Art and Painting student under Master Eduardo Espino.
