Bio

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Oscar Rieveling (b. Mexico City, Mexico, 1994) is a Miami-based conceptual artist. His works address questions drawing upon his Mexican heritage and investigation of ritual, folk tradition, and affect theory. Since 2018, he has conducted ongoing research and iterations of “Auto-mariachi”, a performance inviting mariachi musicians to serenade one another. The work invites a reflection on who serenades the serenaders, and ultimately how we receive and express love and affect. He completed his BA studies in the History of Art and French at Cornell University. His practice has been supported by grants from Locust Projects/The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts and Oolite Arts. Select exhibition and performances venues include MOCA North Miami, the Walgreen’s Windows, Mana Contemporary, and the Redland Market Village. Recent residencies include the Summer Studio Making Waves Residency for WaveMaker Grantees (Locust Projects) and the Live.In.Art Residency (Oolite Arts). 

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Artist Statement

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“Soy de aquí y soy de allá / I am from here and I am from there”

 

My inter-disciplinary practice is an intuitive-led exploration of self-identity and meditations on how we communicate love and affect. Having left my home country of Mexico at a young age has shaped a relationship with my culture that seeks to interrogate collective patterns rather than simply re-staging them as a means of sustaining traditions. Many people find great curiosity and appeal in the unfamiliar. It’s more challenging to arrive at a similar sense of wonder to what is known.

 

My current research interest has centered on mariachi music. Spurred from wondering how this expression has received such widespread acceptance, I’ve questioned how one can resonate so deeply with a language one doesn’t know and about a landscape they’ve never experienced.

 

Similarly, I am invested in the idea of “duende”, an innate and inspired quality to one’s artistry, most synonymous with flamenco culture including music, dance, and even bullfighting. “Duende” isn’t something one acquires, but rather something someone is imbued with. Just as mariachi music conveys emotion that can’t be represented by words, so too does “duende” invoke an intangible but embodied sensation that I seek to elucidate.