When we think about an artistic journey, the narrative almost always begins with struggle. Yes, there is the struggle that comes with trying to best convey the vision, the idea, into something resembling art. But the real struggle often comes in the form of attempting to work toward a professional art practice while also making financial ends meet.
In speaking with Grisel Márquez-Razón at her day job, it begins to occur to me that her story is a unique one, almost an anomaly within the art world. On her break from working as the Registration and Exhibitions Assistant at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park, she freely its that her professional trajectory has always been that of someone who was relying on her creativity in order to create something.
“I never really was that person who made work for a gallery, because I went directly into commissions,” says Márquez-Razón when discussing her early attempts at working in art. “I think that’s something that I had always wanted for my career, at least at the time.”
Since finishing college a little less than a decade ago, Márquez-Razón has, in fact, created an impressive resume of installation, sculptural and even fashion-centric art pieces all over San Diego. These pieces are impressive, often grand in scale and execution, and effortlessly blend surrealism and conceptualism.
Some of them have also been collaborative in nature. That’s not to imply that Márquez-Razón doesn’t bring her own personal vision to a commissioned piece. She loves doing them, but the works are almost always dictated by both spatial limitations and the needs and opinions of the clients.
“The work can sometimes be almost too Pinteresty,” Márquez-Razón says of the aspirational website where people can search for and share ideas. “When it gets to a point where people understand what you can do, they’ll just come to you to say, ‘I saw this on the internet, can you make it?’ I can but it will compromise a lot of my own ideas.”
Still, the North Park resident looks at these experiences, as well as a four-year stint working as an “in-store artist” and “interior installations” creator at a “multimillion-dollar company” (she prefers not to say which one) as something like an artistic “boot camp.” That is, a real world experience where she was tasked to work with varying and often disparate materials to create something wholly beautiful and unique.
Márquez-Razón’s ability to create something out of nothing has led to more commissioned work both in the public and private spheres. These skills often come in handy at her work at the Mingei where she often builds functional objects such as art displays and storage containers for the priceless artifacts in the museum’s permanent collection.
“I think in a way, this type of work has influenced me,” says Márquez-Razón when asked about whether her work at the Mingei influences her personal practice at all. “I mean, I have a pretty amazing job where I get to see the most amazing objects everyday and even handle them. I often get to make their homes.”
This blend of function and beauty is evident in “Pink Case,” a new sculptural piece Márquez-Razón recently debuted at “Border Blasters,” a group exhibition at the Bonita Museum & Cultural Center. On display through August 17 before moving to the Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura in Tijuana on August 22, the exhibition explores “the impact of Tijuana/San Diego radio/television/music in the region” and features dozens of regional artists working in a variety of media. The themes were very attractive to Márquez-Razón since she grew up in Ensenada and often commuted to San Diego with her family.
I wanted to explore the childhood influences that I had crossing the border when I was growing up,” says Márquez-Razón, who moved to San Diego shortly after high school. “I was coming up all the time and I’d hear these radio stations in Ensenada and then we’d get to TJ and I’d hear all these rock stations and I’d think, ‘Oh, I like this.’”
Looking at “Pink Case,” one immediately gets the sense that not only is it a huge departure from Márquez-Razón’s previous work, but it’s also one that is much more personal and subversive in nature. Essentially a stone molcajete bowl (a grinding stone) re-fashioned and reconfigured to resemble a high-end designer handbag (complete with a gold chain shoulder strap), it cheekily blends function and fashion. The sardonic nature of the sculpture is compounded by an accompanying text written to resemble a radio ment.
“Protect your molcajete and image with this case, there’s nothing more chic than a molcajete wrapped in pink,” the text reads. “Show the world that you are in tune with your Latin roots! The pink case is super cool and essential in your life.”
Márquez-Razón sees the molcajete piece as having multiple meanings and interpretations when it comes to consumerism, corporate colonialism and even feminism.
“All of a sudden being Latin is more the trend,” she explains. “It sometimes feels to me like an accessory and a purse is an accessory. That’s why I created the ad to accompany the sculpture. I was trying to make it sound like an influencer. That’s the joke: Who would take their molcajete out of their house just to show how Mexican they are or how connected to their roots they are.”
Still, as ironic as the piece might be at face value, it does seem evident that “Pink Case” also has deep, personal connections to the artist herself. Not only is it representative of a new direction for her overall practice, but one where she is more readily embracing her life and culture. For an artist who was not initially attracted to the more conceptual aspects of an art practice, it’s intriguing to see her come full circle to embrace bold cultural statements.
“It’s a little bit of a self-reflection,” she its. “I guess during my trajectory as an artist and someone who emigrated from Mexico to here, I had to create this image for myself and, in a way, you try to fit in within certain scenarios. Almost trying to fit. A lot of that comes from being the only person of color at work, or having an accent that people have a hard time understanding.”
With this, it’s easy to see how Márquez-Razón’s early experiences as an artistic professional has helped shape her into the artist she now wants to be. She says she’s fortunate to have had a professional journey that almost always involved her having to tap into her creativity, but now wants to be open to “whatever comes next.”
“I’m very excited for some new opportunities,” she says. “Now that I have that little molcajete out there, the wheels are starting to turn in my head and I’m beginning to think of other pieces. I don’t know if I’ll make them just to make them, or if I’ll wait for the right opportunity, but they’re there.”
I’m in a good position to keep working on commissioned pieces and be happy with that,” she adds before saying goodbye. “But at the same time, I’d be happy to be able to go in a different direction.”
BIO BOX
Name: Grisel Márquez-Razón
Home: North Park
Born: Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Fun Fact: In 2019, Márquez-Razón collaborated with her mentor and former professor, Marisol Rendón, on all three iterations of the toddler-friendly exhibition “Wobbleland” at the New Children’s Museum in Downtown San Diego.
‘Border Blasters / Desintegrador de Fronteras’
When and where: On exhibit through Aug. 17 at the Bonita Museum & Cultural Center, 4355 Bonita Rd, Bonita; then runs August 22 through September 14 at the Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura, Calle Benito Juárez, 2da Zona Centro, 22000, Tijuana, Mexico
Phone: (619) 267-5141
Online: bonitahistoricalsociety.org
