What Are You Obsessed With?

Artists from our group exhibition, Everyday Breath, share their own perspectives on what has been occupying their minds and driving their attention.

Kristen Morgin

I collect things almost daily. I find it hard to resist. I don’t just collect objects, I collect anecdotes, mine the internet for images, keep bits of useless trivia in my mind, and take pictures when I go for walks. I hardly ever throw anything away. These collections make their way into my work in some form or another. Further, my process often involves collecting and saving bits that go unused so that they may be used in later works.

When I was a student at Cal State Hayward, I had a friend who was a collector and a hoarder. His name was Charles Webber. He could speak several languages, practiced the teachings of multiple religions, could recite poems and prose from memory, and collected everything from dead songbirds to cans of beans, to used coffee cups . He kept his collections in his home, in his car, in his mind and at the studio. He collected things because he felt that everything in the universe was connected to everything else. He collected to find and , more importantly, keep the connections of everything in the universe.

While I am not as extreme as Charles Webber, I do feel that making connections to everything in the universe is something that is evident in my work.

Julio Del Rio

Julio Del Rio (b. 1988) is a multidisciplinary artist who joined NIAD Art Center in 2007. His ceramics, paintings, and drawings are densely patterned with concentric rings, stippled dots, and lines that radiate out from abstract forms or singing faces. In his drawings, these repetitive marks create the illusion of texture and depth. This tactile quality is fully realized in his sculptures where he combs, stamps, and incises intricate designs into the wet earthenware surfaces. In the following poem, Del Rio describes the sensorial experience of working with clay as well as his passion for the medium. Though the text was composed with a specific vessel in mind, it equally captures his measured and meditative approach to paintings and works on paper.

“[This sculpture is] a water pitcher.

The water becomes fresher and cool.

It’s like the jars my family used to drink out of everyday.

We used to have a little lid to cover the pitcher.

We pour the water from our cooler into the pitcher.

That pitcher was brown with painted white zig-zags.

I saw a ceramic pitcher in a book and liked its shape.

I started sculpting the shape using coils.

I slipped and scored and then added more coils.

It gets wider with each coil and then narrows again.

I let the large base dry a little and then started on the tube.

I used a needle tool to carve the ovals and circles.

Then I fired the pitcher.

After it was fired, I added the underglaze.

I applied each color glaze one at a time.

The first was red, the second was blue, third came yellow.

Fourth was green, black was fifth and then white.

The pitcher is then fired again.

After, I added the overglaze to give it a glossy, shiny look.

I like to work in ceramics.

I used to recycle clay using NIAD’s big pug mill.

It was fun to press the clay and use the large lever.

I like to feel the clay in my hands.

It’s cold. It feels like dough or something like that.

It’s sticky. It becomes dusty.

I feel relaxed.

I like to do large sculptures.

I like to take my time.”

Troy Lamarr Chew II

“Tap tap , ring ring, scroll scroll, thas all we be doin and hearin…”

With my obsession for painting, I had to create one that reflects how I feel about the current state of our lives. I mean, lol, we’re on our phones right now. Thats connection with the world, yet it’s disconnection at the same time. It continually preoccupies us, sometimes missing the beauty around. But these phones ain’t goin no where!

Now from a painterly perspective 👨‍🎨 I obsess over the colors when painting, as most painters do. Like I go crazy over how the colors have to balance and blend perfectly to grab the viewers eye. I like how most people would just call it a white t-shirt in the painting, when in fact there’s so many colors in that t-shirt, so many I can’t even name. Color can low key be hypnotizing man!

Mansur Nurullah

There are healthy obsessions, seemingly benign obsessions, and harmful obsessions.

I engage in all of them.

My current unhealthy obsession is my interest in the secondary and tertiary spaces that are hoarded by our well meaning artist friends in nonprofit where I live. We are in the Bay Area! This obsession, coupled with action, isn’t something that I want to be doing. I would prefer to do other things with my time, energy, and creativity.

This building was created to provide work and living spaces for artists, but has instead become a place to amass wealth- something quite different from when the building was founded. My obsession right now is in changing something that I cannot accept. instead of simply accepting it. Hopefully this current obsession with social and housing justice will bring our organization more in alignment with its stated founding values and make space for a more diverse group of working artists that truly need affordable live and work spaces.

A Benign Obsession is my listening to the same three Cosmic Gate live dance albums in my studio, and home, for the last two years. I re-discovered my love for dance music while riding my bike on the Bosque trail in the heat of Albuquerque last summer. This obsession

is comforting and is preventing me from exploring other types of dance music. I guess, this is a form of grief. I am holding onto

something for as long as I possibly can.

Daniel Albrigo

My obsessions change throughout the year. Luckily I’ve focused into my studio routine.

I think over all it’s an obsession with creating things (paintings,drawings, sculptures )

In high school I learned the satisfaction that comes with finishing a new painting and it still isn’t matched by much in my opinion. I’ve been chasing these hits for a long time. Maybe I’m dopamine obsessed?  Either way I’m obsessed and in it for the long haul. 🧐

Hubert Schmalix (Written by Iris Schmalix)

My father passed away this past March and seeing his painting being a part of this show is especially meaningful.  It's based on the roses he planted in our backyard, a garden he cared for with so much love and dedication.  Flowers were always a part of his life - he filled the house with them (tulips and Gerbera daisies were his favorites), or brought in whatever happened to be blooming outside.  He and my mother spent countless hours working in the garden together.  Sometimes the zucchini or tomatoes didn't quite cooperate, but the pomegranates, lemons, and kumquats thrived under their care.  No matter the outcome, he took great pride in tending that garden, creating beauty for our family.

This painting reflects that love and pride.  It's a reminder of the joy he found in simple things, and the lasting beauty he cultivated.  We miss him deeply, but his garden, his flowers, and his art continue to carry his spirit forward.

Thank you,

Iris

Reniel Del Rosario

I am drawn to things that receive no recognition. The banality of things is what drives me and my work the most. There are hundreds of photos of street signs, storefronts, advertisements, flyers, things spilled on the ground, and junk left on top of places they aren't supposed to be. A beautiful sunset photo? I would rather take a photo of a beautifully dirty baseball cap left on the ground after a sports game. A landscape shot at the top of a trail? I would rather take a photo of the consumerist landscape created by store displays. Art in a museum? Okay, I'll take photos of art in the museum, but I'll also take photos of the benches, 'Employee Only' doors, water fountains, and stairs. These are all things that don't function within the realm of a muse—they're all discards or strictly functional. But to me they're captivating.

They're captivating because no one really cares about them and because of that lack of care, I try to care more and muse them in whatever way I can. It's the reason why when I was artist-in-residence at the American Museum of Ceramic Art that I made 30 copies of a cup that has never been exhibited during its time in the collection. It's the reason why I wanted to bring a copy of a fruit stand at the edge of the Florida Everglades into the gallery space in Miami. It's the reason why there are dirty hats inside the expected pristine gallery space of Guerrero Gallery. I am obsessed and interested in bringing in these things that I believe are underappreciated and left unnoticed.