Visual Artist, Paloma Rincon
Spotlight /
Creative Spotlight
Paloma Rincon Studio
1245947108
When I saw Paloma Rincon’s work I knew immediately she would be a joy to work with. She has been crafting inspiring imagery from Mexico to Madrid and adding bright, whimsical and unexpected imagery to our collection that makes you both smile and think. In planning some of her many projects for us we’ve chosen to weave together current events and thoughts that have been floating around to turn them into tongue in cheek commentary on how the culture is changing.
[Claudia Marks]: First off ‑ how are you keeping busy during this very strange time in the world?
[Paloma Rincon]: It´s been a great time to finish many projects. I had the time to launch my new site, finish and publish a video personal project called Cake Bake that kept me very busy during the lockdown and the following months and shot a few new series I had in my mind like Neon Spring and Mexican Feast. Working at my own pace makes me be much more productive.
[CM]: Can you talk a little bit about the Cake Bake project and how that came about and what the concepts were behind it?
[PR]: Cake Bake is my first live‑action video personal project. I wanted to translate my visual language into a moving image piece. And it had to represent some key elements of my work. First, it is sleek, graphic and bold but has some sticky, imperfects bits that make it very real in a more tabletop language. Second, it is all shot and not CGI. Last, there are unexpected juxtapositions that make you smile. It is the magic of the physical world taken to its limit, where everything is possible.
The story is a visual recipe in a playful and surrealistic style. It has the step by step structure at the beginning of a recipe but then crazy things start to happen. I toy with the conventions of reality and the nature and the behavior of things.
[CM]: Tell me about your background, where you are from and where you went to school?
[PR]: I was born and raised in Mexico City and moved to Madrid to study at University and stayed here since then. My work has all the influence from my Mexican days and all the colors, bright lights and tropical elements.
[CM]: What was your first job ever?
[PR]: When I was still studying I did some children´s coloring book illustrations for my family´s business, although my first and only payroll came from the museum shop I worked when I spent some months in London. Ever since I´ve always worked as a freelancer in the photographic industry. From the beginning where I worked at a studio, then as a photographer's assistant and after creating my own images.
[Paloma Rincon]: It´s been a great time to finish many projects. I had the time to launch my new site, finish and publish a video personal project called Cake Bake that kept me very busy during the lockdown and the following months and shot a few new series I had in my mind like Neon Spring and Mexican Feast. Working at my own pace makes me be much more productive.
[CM]: Can you talk a little bit about the Cake Bake project and how that came about and what the concepts were behind it?
[PR]: Cake Bake is my first live‑action video personal project. I wanted to translate my visual language into a moving image piece. And it had to represent some key elements of my work. First, it is sleek, graphic and bold but has some sticky, imperfects bits that make it very real in a more tabletop language. Second, it is all shot and not CGI. Last, there are unexpected juxtapositions that make you smile. It is the magic of the physical world taken to its limit, where everything is possible.
The story is a visual recipe in a playful and surrealistic style. It has the step by step structure at the beginning of a recipe but then crazy things start to happen. I toy with the conventions of reality and the nature and the behavior of things.
[CM]: Tell me about your background, where you are from and where you went to school?
[PR]: I was born and raised in Mexico City and moved to Madrid to study at University and stayed here since then. My work has all the influence from my Mexican days and all the colors, bright lights and tropical elements.
[CM]: What was your first job ever?
[PR]: When I was still studying I did some children´s coloring book illustrations for my family´s business, although my first and only payroll came from the museum shop I worked when I spent some months in London. Ever since I´ve always worked as a freelancer in the photographic industry. From the beginning where I worked at a studio, then as a photographer's assistant and after creating my own images.
I do a mixture of techniques in the sets and art direction that is also very aligned with my passion for art. Besides photography, I also love creating stuff with my hands, playing with materials and constructions and I found I could integrate all of these in my shoots.
[CM] Were you always a still life photographer?
[PR] Not really. When I started I began shooting all kinds of images. I´ve tried many different genres: from weddings and events to portraiture and fashion. I think it is a necessary journey so you can find your own voice and what kind of photography you are better at and you enjoy more.
[CM] What drew you to shooting inanimate objects?
[PR] In the kind of still life photography I do there's a mixture of techniques in the sets and art direction that is also very aligned with my passion for art. Besides photography, I also love creating stuff with my hands, playing with materials and constructions and I found I could integrate all of these in my shoots.
Still life is also a very technical genre that satisfies my like for this other part, it involves many physical interactions that I also enjoy dealing with.
I also like the quiet peace at which I can shoot and work when doing still life, it makes me feel more self‑sufficient when shooting a personal project. Although I many times work in a team, and I love it, I like the possibility of dealing with some projects by myself.
[CM] What advice do you have for creators who are just starting out?
[PR] Do what you love and try to find a language that connects your interests with your abilities. It is important to try and explore. There is a lot to learn in failure. Having your own style only comes with time, but meanwhile don´t stop shooting.
[CM] Do you do any other kind of crafting or artwork in your spare time?
[PR] I somehow end up integrating most of my crafting explorations in my projects, so I guess it all ends up being work and during my real spare time I try to disconnect as much as I can. Having time off work really nurtures my universe and this is something that in the end my work takes benefit on.
[CM] Who are some artists you admire? Who or what do you look towards for inspiration?
[PR] I try to look for inspiration in disciplines different from the one I work at. I love fine arts, especially if there is a sense of texture and use of materials in painting, sculpture, or installation like Yago Hortal or Anish Kapoor. I like the interaction of physical volumes in a real space that I find in architects like Ricardo Bofil or Richard England. Also how light plays with space in the work of Dan Flavino or the use of color and everyday objects that Tom Wesselmann.
[PR] Not really. When I started I began shooting all kinds of images. I´ve tried many different genres: from weddings and events to portraiture and fashion. I think it is a necessary journey so you can find your own voice and what kind of photography you are better at and you enjoy more.
[CM] What drew you to shooting inanimate objects?
[PR] In the kind of still life photography I do there's a mixture of techniques in the sets and art direction that is also very aligned with my passion for art. Besides photography, I also love creating stuff with my hands, playing with materials and constructions and I found I could integrate all of these in my shoots.
Still life is also a very technical genre that satisfies my like for this other part, it involves many physical interactions that I also enjoy dealing with.
I also like the quiet peace at which I can shoot and work when doing still life, it makes me feel more self‑sufficient when shooting a personal project. Although I many times work in a team, and I love it, I like the possibility of dealing with some projects by myself.
[CM] What advice do you have for creators who are just starting out?
[PR] Do what you love and try to find a language that connects your interests with your abilities. It is important to try and explore. There is a lot to learn in failure. Having your own style only comes with time, but meanwhile don´t stop shooting.
[CM] Do you do any other kind of crafting or artwork in your spare time?
[PR] I somehow end up integrating most of my crafting explorations in my projects, so I guess it all ends up being work and during my real spare time I try to disconnect as much as I can. Having time off work really nurtures my universe and this is something that in the end my work takes benefit on.
[CM] Who are some artists you admire? Who or what do you look towards for inspiration?
[PR] I try to look for inspiration in disciplines different from the one I work at. I love fine arts, especially if there is a sense of texture and use of materials in painting, sculpture, or installation like Yago Hortal or Anish Kapoor. I like the interaction of physical volumes in a real space that I find in architects like Ricardo Bofil or Richard England. Also how light plays with space in the work of Dan Flavino or the use of color and everyday objects that Tom Wesselmann.
I´m focusing my work in a more conceptual and artistic way, letting go of the boundaries of doing just photography and also opening to other kinds of projects ‑ more uncertain, more experimental, just like the times we´re living and trying to adapt to what the future might bring.
[CM] What image of yours in our collection is your favorite?
[PR] That´s a very difficult choice. Any from my Mental Health series or my Neon Flower series, but this could absolutely change tomorrow depending on my mood.
[CM] What TV show or movie do you think everyone should see?
[PR] Black Mirror has been my all‑time favorite show. And sometimes now I feel we´re living a dystopic reality inside an episode of this series during the last months.
[CM] What are you looking forward to for the future?
[PR] We´re living difficult times, and this little stop has also made me have the time to think about the direction I want to head in the near future. I´m focusing my work in a more conceptual and artistic way, letting go of the boundaries of doing just photography and also opening to other kinds of projects ‑ more uncertain, more experimental, just like the times we're living and trying to adapt to what the future might bring. As everything is unknown, I´m willing to go to exciting new places, those are the kinds of projects I´m getting into right now.
[PR] That´s a very difficult choice. Any from my Mental Health series or my Neon Flower series, but this could absolutely change tomorrow depending on my mood.
[CM] What TV show or movie do you think everyone should see?
[PR] Black Mirror has been my all‑time favorite show. And sometimes now I feel we´re living a dystopic reality inside an episode of this series during the last months.
[CM] What are you looking forward to for the future?
[PR] We´re living difficult times, and this little stop has also made me have the time to think about the direction I want to head in the near future. I´m focusing my work in a more conceptual and artistic way, letting go of the boundaries of doing just photography and also opening to other kinds of projects ‑ more uncertain, more experimental, just like the times we're living and trying to adapt to what the future might bring. As everything is unknown, I´m willing to go to exciting new places, those are the kinds of projects I´m getting into right now.
