Meet Aran Penumbra | Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aran Penumbra and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aran, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Since I started my artistic journey 4 years ago, the reason why I do the things I do has changed quite a bit. At the beginning of my journey, I was 100% focused on getting better on my craft and exploring different artistic techniques, styles, and genres. That way, I was able to know what I liked, what I disliked, what I was good at, and what I enjoyed doing.

Couple of years later, I was going through really difficult stuff, so my art became the way I could channel all the negative emotions, bad memories, trauma, and depression. Moreover, a lot of bad memories I had forgotten returned, and my art from that time serves the purpose to remind me of what I’ve lived in case I forget again who I was and what I went through.

However, after a couple of years in therapy, self-reflection and working on myself, the reason why I keep creating has changed again. Now I want to experience new things, meet new people, feel new emotions. One of my goals in my creative journey is to get to know people in a significant and deeper level. I want to know more about the deep meaning of people’s lives through how they view art and the world.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As I mentioned before, an important part of my artistic journey was experimenting. I felt really lost at the beginning because I wanted to do everything at the same time, and sometimes I still feel like that. What worked for me was experimenting everything by planning and making a lot of different projects, each one with a different theme or style, and force myself to create from colors, artistic movements, composition shapes, rare words, memories, etc. That way, I had to think outside the box I’d put myself into, and I was able to try a lot of things and discover what I liked and what I disliked.

With time, I’ve learned that experimenting only leads to knowing yourself better and constantly break and stablish the limits you create for yourself. That way you are not close-minded to trying new things, but know from what you have experienced what works for you and what doesn’t.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Here in the city of Puebla, Puebla, in Mexico, there are a lot of cultural spots to explore. Museums like the Museo Internacional del Barroco and Museo Amparo are some of the go-to places to visit when coming to Puebla. However, there are some places like Puebla’s downtown where you can experience firsthand the local culture and history through architecture, artistic activities and artesanías made and sold by locals.

Specifically, I would recommend a cafeteria named Proyecto 203, which is a calm place where they have different artistic activities like masterclasses, workshops, jazz nights, art exhibitions and book clubs, so that the community can participate. The café is located inside a place named Casa Palma where you can find many locals exhibiting and selling their artworks and other unique things. Remember, you can find Proyecto 203 inside Casa Palma, which is located in Puebla’s downtown.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to dedicate this shoutout to some of the people that have changed how I view art, relationships, and life. The most important people in my journey are my mother and brother, they have been with me through everything and have never gave up on me nor on my dreams.

Also, I want to shoutout the one person that changed my perspective of what art is and can be, my dear friend and mentor Sara Martínez. She is an amazing artist, teacher, mentor, and friend. She helped me shape my current visual style through theoretical and practical classes, and has shown me what art can look like, literally and symbolically.

Lastly, I want to thank all the people that have supported me. Friends, teachers, colleagues, and everyone else that has believed in me, given me advice or cheered me up to continue doing what I love. I think everyone has had an impact at one point in my artistic journey, and I’m so grateful for that.

Website: http://aranpenumbra.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_aran_penumbra/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@aranpenumbra