Sign In
To counteract the bad luck of Friday the 13th multidisciplinary artist and visual poet, Adrián Arias hosted Lucky 13 Art Day at the Studio Grand in Oakland on December 13, 2013. The evening of visual art, performance and music filled the audience with an almost mystical sensation evoked by the thoughtful and hauntingly beautiful convergence of artistic mediums. “We shared with the public our most authentic expression that comes when we combine our arts” said Arias.
La Tanya Baile Flamenco
To create Lucky 13 Art Day, Arias went through what he describes as a “stage of dreams and drawings”. His exhibition of drawings, which were on display at Studio Grand until January 5th, inspired the event. He said, “I had dreams. I had dreams of my past with my grandmothers, elder women, and women of ancient times, who offered me fish to do something with. It was then that I thought it was time to redo ‘Ceviche’ ”.
Arias prepares ceviche for his audience.
Arias welcomed the audience into the space with the standout performance piece “Ceviche”. Arias imbued his family tradition of making ceviche with a mystical sensation, as live musician, Pauchi Sasaki strummed deep resonant chords utilizing computer loops and a violin. According to Arias, this music helped him “travel in the story and give light to the words”. As Arias’ soft yet deep voice echoed through the space, the audience traveled with him, engaging intimately with the sensations and process. While Arias chopped and sprinkled, preparing the fish for the audience, abstract projections created shadows on the wall behind him and onto the large drawings displayed in the space.
Arias began making ceviche for a performance in 2003. Since then he has performed variations of this process in many of his works. For Lucky 13 Art Day, “Ceviche” was Arias’ “time machine for traveling to childhood…it was a way of saying ‘thank you’ to my ancestors for giving me the knowledge of cooking, so I can live”.
Live violinist Pauchi Sasaki
Arias included the performances of many artists over the course of the evening, including La Tania Baile Flamenco, Xochitl and Genie Love. According to Arias “every artist is a planet in action. When we come together in a space to create a galaxy, we become part of the cosmos that organically moves in space”. The evening continued in a series of vignettes, many informed or performed to Arias’ poetry. Arias describes himself as a visual poet. He writes, “I feel that poetry comes to life in pictures and that images are built with music, and that music feeds on poetry. Dance and body movements bring it all together”. Dancer, Xochitl performed a traditional Aztec dance intended to greet ancestors in a ritual. This performance was influenced by a poem that Arias wrote to his grandparents. The poem provided a way for teenage Xochitl to connect with the ritual aspect of the dance. La Tania Baile Flamenco performed a sultry and powerful flamenco dance to Arias’ reading of his poem “Kisses”. Arias read the poem in a whispering, flowing tone, in perfect juxtaposition to La Tania’s sharp movements and loud claps and stomps.
Xochitl performed a traditional Aztec dance
Lucky 13 Art Day created a dream-like atmosphere, engaging the audience in a complete sensory experience. Said Arias, “it was to be experienced in the language of dreams, where sometimes things don’t make sense but that doesn’t matter. The dream has taken us to…a place of enjoyment for the eyes, the skin and the hearts of the audience and ourselves, to the place of intuition”.
Arias / Lake Merritt / photo: La Tanya
Adrián Arias is a long time dance anywhere® participant. Since 2007, he has performed with La Tania on a sunny Bernal Heights hill in San Francisco, CA, at Berkeley High School, the Mission Cultural Center, as well as Lake Merritt.
View Arias’ dance anywhere page
For more information on Adrián Arias visit- adrianarias.net
