Caro Pepe is a notable Argentinian artist, born and raised in Corrientes, AKA ‘city of murals’. After several years working in advertising as an art director, in both Buenos Aires and Madrid, Pepe decided, “it was about time to work on my art full time”. With that decision in mind, she picked up and moved to Berlin in 2012, “I wasn’t sure what to do or where to do it, I didn’t know anyone but I was in for the adventure. Lucky enough, this adventure started at the legendary Tacheles, where I spent one whole month working with artists from all around the globe. From then on, a chain of fortunate events and the support of my family, friends and colleagues helped me to jump start my career in the arts”. Pepe took the so called ‘leap of faith’ and followed her true passion of creating unique works of art. Today her focus is on acrylic and ink canvases and large scale murals with latex and spray paint.
The whimsical women of Pepe’s pieces embody a sense of wonder and mystery within their one immense eye. Each piece tells a story and shares a piece of the artist’s life experience. When we first came across Pepe’s work we noticed that all of her subjects were women with one eye. When asked the reasoning behind this trend, she explained that she “hasn’t always just painted one eye. It all started, of course, with a personal experience when I realized that in order to maintain my ‘state of happiness’, I unconsciously suppressed some facts. I chose what to see and what to ignore. That experience lead me to think that as the subjective individuals we are, we tend to build our emotions and construct our ‘truth’ based on a partial view of reality. The ‘One eye’ symbolizes that partiality”.
Each of her pieces have “subtle symbolism and tend to explore the surreal land of emotions. They swing in between romantic and provocative motifs, where colors vary according to the feeling.” She describes her work as being framed around intimacy and sees her pieces as “short poems whispered in to someone’s ears”.
Here at SprATX, we always want to learn what makes an artist tick; what is it that keeps then inspired and creating. What is it that has them hooked. Pepe informed us that painting connects her to her inner self and is a way of meditation.
“Whenever I’m painting nothing else exists, just me and whatever I’m creating”.
On the other hand, she explains, “through painting I was able to travel the world and get to know so many different people, many of whom became good friends. That’s what I love most about art, it’s is the door of a world of wonders, either to go in or to go out.” Sounds like the bees knees to us! To create art, connect with the world around you and also tune into the inner world within you. Pepe’s got it goin’ on!
Pepe’s art is known for the ways in which it “portrays emotions” while simultaneously invoking emotion in it’s viewers. She shared that “whether is something I’ve lived, a story that moved me or a random event, everything produces an emotion. Sometimes my own, sometimes someone else’s. I’m interested in the picture of that emotion, how it would look like, how would it smell and how would it feel if I could touch it. This is meaningful to me because I’m constantly analyzing emotions, mine and other’s, specially when I find them hard to understand. So I take all its bits and pieces, l explore through their depths, and then I work to put it back together in an image”.
Find out more about Caro Pepe on her Website, Instagram, or Facebook
