Jake Fagundo's Studio, image courtesy of the artist.
Jessica DuPreez: What is your background?
Jake Fagundo: I’m originally from Chicago. My dad is also a painter and teaches at the school, so I’ve always had some connection to painting and drawing as well as the school itself, having simply been around it my whole life.
JD: Can you tell us about your work?
JF: I’d like to think my work is concerned with beauty, some humor, and detachment. I typically paint objects such as candles, chairs, and more or less interior still-lifes. At first, the objects were benign, simply used for compositional tools. But as I used them more and more, I began to find symbolism and a sort of spiritual context for them and that let me have a more personal relationship with what I paint and how I paint it.
"Gnawing on the knowledge that I have been burnt", 2020. Oil on canvas, 46" x 46"
JD: What does your work aim to say?
JF: I’m not sure that my work really has a clear message in any particular way other than “this is a person thinking about how they want to paint the things that interest him”, which is something that I really look for in other people’s work. So if that comes across to my audience as well as myself, then I think the work is successful.
JD: Does your work comment on social or political issues? And if yes, How?
JF: I don’t believe it usually does. However, I feel like any work being made right now, during the pandemic, is automatically going to be within a social or political context.
"Down beside that red firelight", 2020. Oil on canvas, 14" x 14"
JD: What artists are you currently looking at or inspired by and why?
JF: I’ve been a big fan of Morandi and Matisse for quite a while now and steal from them often. Other more contemporary influences include Alex Katz, Nicole Eisenman, Jodan Kasey, and Katherine Bradford. It’s funny that most of these people are figurative painters and my work typically is devoid of a figure in a literal sense, but I feel like I definitely take from them a figurative quality that somehow ends up all over my work.
JD: Are there any art world trends you are currently following?
JF: None really in particular, but while figuration has always been around, I see it really in the forefront of contemporary painting right now and that is perhaps why I’m interested in it, not necessarily because of the subjects, but more so the fact that figuration is where a lot of people are coming up with new tricks with paint since it’s the most common thing right now.
"Creatures of Love", 2020. Oil on canvas, 36" x 36"
JD: What is your favorite art material and why?
JF: I’ve tried other mediums such as sound, video, sculpture, and even a little performance, but I feel like I’ve settled on oil painting. At least for the time being.
JD: Why painting? In an interdisciplinary program like SAIC, how did you land on painting? Was it always a love or did you find a passion for it at SAIC?
JF: Growing up, I was always around painting and painters, so I think it makes sense why I would find it more personal than other mediums to me.
"Kiss", 2020. Oil on canvas, 30" x 40"
JD: What has been your favorite class/professor at SAIC?
JF: Last semester, I took intro to painting again, actually two intro classes at the same time. One with Andrew Falkowski, who I’ve grown to build a solid relationship with, and Mike Cloud, who’s work I really admired. It was interesting because both Andrew and Mike are completely different painters with completely different philosophies, so it was really beneficial to get sort of tugged in two different directions and land somewhere in the middle.
JD: Did you have work in the Spring 2020 Undergraduate Exhibition? Would you like to share it with us here? Do you have an Instagram page you would like us to share?
JF: Since I’m a junior, I won’t be showing work in the undergrad show, but my Instagram is @jakefagundo
"What drives me to you is what drives me insane", 2020. Oil on canvas, 40" x 40"
“I’ve killed my world and I’ve killed my time” (10:10 pm). Oil on canvas, 14” x 14”
JD: How has the transition to a home studio effected your practice?
JF: By an extreme stroke of luck, a friend of mine, Sarah Oniel who runs a space called Okay Gallery was generous enough to let me use a studio space for very cheap. So it’s really just been a transition to a different studio which is really lucky and fortunate.
JD: Have you been able to maintain a fruitful practice in a new innovative way?
JF: Not as much as I would like, or thought I would. The whole pandemic situation has effected me in ways I wasn’t expecting. I’m struggling to find the motivation to paint and enjoy myself in the studio, but I try to show up regardless.
“Mama, here comes midnight”, 2020. Oil on canvas, 43” x 31”
JD: How long have you been in Advanced Painting?
JF: Only this spring semester so far.
JD: What has been your favorite part of being in Advanced Painting?
JF: Definitely the space, time, and community that’s in there.
JD: Has your work changed a lot through your time in Advanced Painting?
JF: It has changed more than I anticipated for sure. I was scared and unsure about what I was going to do at the beginning of the semester, but the faculty and fellow students created an environment which was very conducive to experimentation and soon I was having a blast trying new ways of painting and new ideas to paint about.
JD: What would you say to a student on the fence about applying to Advanced Painting?
JF: I would say just to try it for a semester and if it doesn’t work out then you don’t have to do it again, but it is definitely a big privilege to have the space and time to work as much as you can in the class with the faculty that I think might be unwise to pass up.
“I looked for silver linings, but you’re rotten to the core” 2020. Oil on canvas, 24” x 24”