PostConceptual Philosophy

 

Art cannot escape being a sociological object. Art objects can escape the constraints of reality, but they cannot escape the values, experience, and knowledge of the artist that create them. Creating objects is a ritual and a performance that gives meaning to my life.

I use my own labor to create the work. Labor is a state to be valued, and not to be exploited. The hand is the mind. The conceptual world of the 20th century increasingly and routinely separated the mind from the hand. As an artist I value the conceptual aspect of work but I do not divorce the mind from the body.

The act of creating objects aids humans in their relationship to reality and meaning. Homo sapiens ability to make connections has enabled us to become survivors in evolution and some of the power of art lies in this ability to enable connections. These connections go beyond what the artist intended and what the politically and economically powerful in society sanction. These connections facilitate cultural exchange and dialogue when language alone is ineffective. Art is an excellent medium for (intra and inter) cultural exchange because it allows the viewer to become part of the dialogue and expand meaning beyond the artist's intentions. It is a medium through which things that are intangible and not connected by the concrete, have a chance to come into human awareness. This interweaving of cultures via objects has always existed. Cultural cannibalism, slowly over time, negates the dominance of Empires. Whether placed in political terms of power relations or in philosophical, sociological, or biological arenas, the ‘framing’ is not important. The end result, the evolution of culture and societies, will be the same.

The expression of art being predominantly the cult of spectacle and celebrity has become ubiquitous, yet boring at best. As artists we should contribute to contemporary dialogue and create work that has integrity and goes beyond the celebrity obsession of our society. This dialogue is important, as our society is drowning with the superficiality of reality media shows and the cult of celebrity is destroying our ability to think for ourselves. We should be responsible contributors to culture, not merely by criticizing, but actually living our lives as role models and creating objects that go beyond the superficial and the spectacle. In the end, we must remember that Art is about freedom and as such, Art should have no required dogmas as its pre-requisite for validation.
My work has been a series of projects that are all conceptually related as they have grown out of each other and my philosophical viewpoint. However, visually they can be very different for I am always researching and I love change. I am not imprisoned by one dominant style as were the modernists or postmodernists in execution of their individual work. For me, everything is an abstraction with different degrees of 'recognizability' and style is just an element similarly to color as an element.

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Natacha Villamia Sochat was born in New York City. She grew up in La Habana, Cuba and in the south Bronx where and attended the Bronx HS of Science. She worked as a professional photographer in Berlin, Germany including freelance work for "Berlin Today" magazine. She is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Boston University (BA Biology with distinction, minor art history) and received her MD degree from Boston University School of Medicine. Her post-baccalaureate studies at Brandeis University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston included painting, printmaking, photography, and video. She received her MFA in Studio Arts from Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her knowledge of the sciences has greatly contributed to her art. From 1995 to 1997 she learned how to see the light from Paul Ingbretson at his atelier that embodied the Boston Painters heritage. This knowledge contributed to her ability to create diverse work when she coupled it with her graduate work in the arts at the Museum School Boston.

 

She has taught at numerous places including School fo the Museum of Fine Arts (painting), the New Hampshire Institute of Art (drawing and printmaking), and was Master Teacher in Studio Arts at the St. Paul's School Advanced Studies Program (Concord, NH). She is an interdisciplinary thinker, curator, and artist including painting, printmaking, bookmaking, performance, video, drawing, and photography. Her work has won numerous awards and has been in exhibitions throughout the United States.

 

In 2009 Natacha founded NKG (a Boston contemporary art gallery) along with Kathy Halamka. NKG (NK Gallery LLC) gave voice to the pluralism that continually enriches contemporary art and ideas. NKG's mission was to further contemporary art by giving equal value to the mind and the hand. NKG supported artists by giving the time and space to exhibit work. In 2012 NKGallery closed its doors.

 

From early childhood Natacha has been passionate about art and science and always keeps these worlds connected. Interests include philosophy, theoretical physics, ethics, critical thinking, biological and sociological systems, as well as virtual gaming. Natacha is bilingual from birth and is the oldest child of Puerto Rican and Cuban parents. Her father Mario was involved in the Cuban Revolution and this experience as a child has influenced not only her life and her view of culture but her work as well. Her mother's diverse roots of Taino Indian as well as European and afro culture contributed to her life perspective. Natacha is in studio 211 at Artspace in Raleigh NC. She is a member 5 Points Gallery in Durham NC.

 

 

The Hand is the Mind