MAO BARROTERAN
Utah based artist intentionally represents the indigenous, Mexican-American, and queer experience and culture, both in ancient and modern times
What’s your background/story?
Hi! My name is Mao, I'm a queer Mexican visual artist based in Salt Lake City, UT. I was born in Ventura, CA in 1993. When I was barely a month old, my family moved to Tijuana, México, where I grew up. Growing up in such a big, busy border city, it made me appreciate people, different cultures and art in many forms. When I entered high school, I started commuting across the border, as I was living in Tijuana, and attending school in a San Diego suburb. I always grew up doing creative things such as sewing, dancing, painting and drawing. I developed an obsession with ancient cultures and their forms of art and history. In 2017, I moved to Salt Lake City to take a break from the busy border life. I started to develop a sense of style in my artwork, as well as experimenting with different mediums. In 2020 I started a tattoo apprenticeship, which helped me discover more specifically the kind of style and imagery I wanted to create. Now, Im living in downtown slc, in a tiny little studio where I keep it cozy and allow myself to develop my work. I have participated on multiple art shows around the city and my tattooing is developing so well, crazy to realize I have been tattooing for a little over a year now! Im very happy where art has taken me and very excited for whats coming.
How do you describe your work?
I would describe my work as a surrealist and abstract interaction between people, objects, and emotions. My work strongly and intentionally represents the indigenous, Mexican-American, and queer experience and culture, both in ancient and modern times.My work usually has a serene but serious sentiment to it. Sometimes I create people, sometimes abstract shapes, sometimes cartoony stuff. I used to be very strict about the style or images I created, but a couple years ago I started allowing myself to let whatever is in my head just end up on a tangible surface.
What’s integral to your work as an artist?
It's very important to me that my work show's integrity in detail. I really appreciate it when the process of making the piece is made apparent and forms part of the piece itself. Most of my work has a feeling of being made with urgency, almost fast or under pressure, which is not too far from the truth to be honest! I think this feeling I try to convey comes from growing up in the Tijuana border, where everything is always happening fast and it never stops. I strive for representation for unrepresented individuals always. I do this for my queer and BIPOC friends out there. I hope my work shows that, because I put a lot of intention behind what I do.
What role do you feel art and your art has in society?
Every time I see art, specially those that hit the right spot, I feel inspired, and it makes me want to create something too. I would hope that, if my art has any impact or roll in society, it inspires people to just follow their individual way of creating and expressing what's inside of them. Whether you know what you're doing from a "technical" standpoint or not, make something, just let it out, and make sure is yours and yours only!
What has been a seminal experience?
In 2021 I had a very small and special show with some friends at a small gallery downtown. Some of the pieces showing were for sale. Mine wasn't, just because I didn't really believe someone would want to pay money for it. Someone reached out to me online, offering to purchase my piece. This blew my mind! It took me a minute to digest and finally accepted the offer. Obviously having someone give you money in exchange for your art is pretty cool, but what I learned from this was the fact that someone appreciated it so much that they wanted to own it. It definitely boosted the confidence in my work and made me believe that other people would appreciate what I do. Later I reached out to her and told her how much it meant to me that she expressed her love for this piece enough to buy it from me. It definitely catapulted what Im doing today.
What is your dream project?
I would love to create wearables. Dressing myself in the morning is my favorite part of the day. At the beginning of 2020, I released a line of earrings that I hand made to order. I enjoyed the process of it so much, that it made me fantasize about designing a whole fashion line. I only know basic to intermediate tailoring, but I can get creative! There's so many bag and purse designs floating around in my head that who knows, might drop a little purse for the girls soon...
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Life is not that serious. A lot of times, pursuing creative avenues pushes you to get out of your comfort zone in many different ways, which can be scary. Is not that serious. I always admire people that don't take life too seriously and go for big opportunities, even when they're scary or intimidating.
How has your practice changed over time?
I feel like my ideas and inspirations have stayed pretty consistent over the years. Im so passionate about illustrating contemporary art with elements of the past. I have definitely experimented and explored different mediums such as painting and drawing, large scale installs, and tattooing, but I always make sure to follow my intuition and make sure it stays very "Mao". Im still working on not following rules or restrict myself in what I do. I hope my art continues to evolve into more of a genuine, unique and inspiring eye candy for all!
Professionally, what’s your goal?
To be honest, I never really thought of art as a career path for myself, it just kind of starting to become one. One of my main goals is to be able to work for myself as a tattoo artist. It's such a beautiful form of art that I have started to focus on a lot more in the past few years. Ultimately, I would love to make a decent living doing what I love and skipping into sunset full of true happiness holding the hand of a cute boy. I think thats doable!
Mao Barroterán
IG @mao.barroteran