RESIST: AN INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST MARIA PIÑERES
RESIST by artist Maria Piñeres (2017)
If you’ve ever visited EVERYBODY Gym in Cypress Park, chances are you’ve caught a glimpse of the gorgeous mural on our outside patio. Maybe you’ve seen it from the street as you drove down San Fernando Road or during your daily workout. Maybe you’ve wondered who created this beautiful mural, what is the meaning behind it, and why do I love it so much?
We sat down with artist and creator of the RESIST mural Maria Piñeres for a radical recap…
Artist Maria Piñeres at EVERYBODY Gym in Los Angeles
V: Ok, tell me your name and your big three. I’ll go first. My name is V and I’m a Leo sun, Sag rising and Menopause Moon.
(pause for laughter)
MP: Maria Piñeres: Sun in Libra, Cancer rising and moon in Aries.
V: You’ve been an artist for a long time…
MP: A really long time. I went to high school for art and studied art and design in Manhattan, so since I was 14. I came out to LA in 2005.
V: It’s such a crazy time right now, and it's so nice to see this mural still persisting almost unscathed, maybe a little sun lifted. But to me, it still seems like as vibrant as it was in the first few months that you painted it. I have a few photos in front of it from 2017 when Sam held an artist reception. I know there's elements of camouflage and kind of different interpretations of it, like colorful adaptations of camouflage almost…
MP: Yeah, I had done a really deep dive into different types of camouflage, and I just got really into it for a while. I've always liked to play with colors, and it also alludes to militant-ness. I think it has a lot to do with landscapes. It's like when I go to the desert, I'm just looking at the colors or the patterns that stand out and why certain camouflage became what they are. It's like shadows and colors, so a lot of this was sort of landscapes juxtaposed with each other, and they could signify bodies, or they can signify elements of nature or pushing back against each other…
“I had done a really deep dive into different types of camouflage, and I just got really into it for a while. I’ve always liked to play with colors, and it also alludes to militant-ness.”
V: But also flowing with each other…
MP: Yeah, it was all that. That's what I found, so much fun to play with.
V: Yeah. When you hear an artist talk about their work, you kind of look at it a little differently…with more insight. But I also like having my own opinion first and then maybe knowing what the artist said as opposed to the other way around.
MP: What was your opinion, I’m curious…
V: Instantly my head went into ‘queering camouflage’. It went into taking something and, like queers do, make it colorful, make it political, because it just already is. Make it mean more than what it traditionally means, but with a twist of camp, a little bit of joy, a little bit of fun, a little bit of resistance.
MP: Totally….
V: Mix it all up and voila! And it looks better than traditional camo, but yet, it has these elements which, for me, like maybe as an old school dyke from the 90s, I really related to. We still wear the camo, but even more back then…
MP: Oh I’m so drawn to it to this day…
V: Yes…We wore the camo because I feel like we didn't have much of a wardrobe selection as gender fluid people back then. It was either men's clothes or women's clothes. So for me the camo was like oh, there's women in the military or this makes me feel powerful. I'm kind of making a statement against gender norms and femininity, but also being ready to fight. And the irony is, I guess camo makes you blend in, but when you're in a cityscape, you stand out. Right?
MP: Yeah, and the colors are more joyful, but it's also kind of like they're saying, as queer what kind of clothing and patterns do you gravitate to?
V: Yeah, and the camouflage shapes are specifically non-uniform and contrasting.
MP: Right.
“Instantly my head went into ‘queering camouflage’. It went into taking something and, like queers do, make it colorful, make it political, because it just already is.”
V: And then for the inside of the gym, what was your inspiration for that?
MP: I talked to Sam and we talked about making a different approach, but at the same time relating to it. I thought it would be nice to have A LOT of white space, so that it's sort of like creeping into the space.
V: Yeah, it feels almost like when you go to an old apartment and the bricks are sticking out from behind the paint.
MP: Yeah, like tearing down walls and finding a little piece of wallpaper that existed before, it's something like that.
V: I like how at certain places where cracks might be, or underneath every boring white wall is…
MP: …Some history…
V: Yeah, especially here, like a cool queer history or artsy one.
MP: Right. And then I also played with the edges, like one side is really organic and the other side is really rigid, and at some point they come together where both sides are rigid. But it's really, really subtle, but that was just something that I kind of planned that way when it was on paper. And I was just like oh, the sides facing each other are both soft, and then these two sides facing each other are going to be like so, just for fun. It also does feel to me a little bit graffiti. I never call myself a graffiti artist, but my approach was a little bit to be, not just because it's on a wall, but a certain kind of line…
V: Yeah, they have distinct outlines, like someone doing a piece would definitely do a thicker outline with the colors inside and the solid on the outside. It reminded me of that, too because growing up in LA, I would study the graffiti art.
“‘...I also played with the edges, like one side is really organic and the other side is really rigid, and...the sides facing each other are both soft...”
V: So when you do this, you draw it out first and then kind of like a mapping situation?
MP: I do a mapping, but, you know, once it goes on the wall, it takes on its own thing.
V: And how long did the RESIST mural take to to do?
MP: Actually this one took a month, but it was like that weird time of year where the day I started it, it rained and then it didn't stop raining for like a month and a half. We would have one clear day and I'd jump in and every time I would come set everything up, out of nowhere the sky would just like turn gray.
V: That’s so rare for LA. It was like trying to resist your RESIST mural! Ok wow, but usually it would take probably like two weeks or a week?
MP: I thought it was going to take like a week and a half.
V: And how do you feel when you see people take pictures in front of it?
MP: Oh, I loved it. Especially early on, I remember I scrolling through Instagram and sometimes you're not paying attention, and then I'd be like, there's my background. Yeah, it's pretty awesome.
V: I honestly love when people do that or are just filming or selfie-ing out here. The mural just makes everything pop: makes the astroturf pop, the equipment pop, it just makes everybody look great.
MP: Because it's outdoors, the lighting is always great. Even when there's shadows, it looks really fresh. The inside doesn't have that same look.
V: Yeah, the inside seems more poppy because the white and then the color are like bam, bam, whereas the outside blends in more… The medicine balls are blending in, the boxing bags, and even the orange fan. It's almost like Sam consciously works the equipment around your mural.
“We pulled a lot of colors from the EVERYBODY typeface. But obviously there are some browns and deep oranges that needed to go in there just to help it pop a little bit.”
V: And what do you think about it now years later?
MP: I'm so happy it's still there and sometimes when I drive down San Fernando, you see the top of it, and obviously the first thing I notice is how much it's faded, although it's still pretty bright on the bottom. But it does kind of make me chuckle that it's there and where my mind was at the time... and if I had any doubts at the time like oh, that should have been a different color... We pulled a lot of colors from the EVERYBODY typeface. But obviously there are some browns and deep oranges that needed to go in there just to help it pop a little bit. At the time some of the colors just weren't me, like I would never use that color, but now those colors ARE me.
V: Totally! So when you were painting it, what was your mind frame at the time?
MP: I mean aside from the political thing, it did feel like a big time of change, and I think I was either just starting a new relationship and had just ended a long one. I had just moved… So, some personal, some just more environmental.
“V: And the RESIST title, did you come up with that?
MP: Yes...that name didn’t strike me until it was finished. It was just kind of like, oh, it’s RESIST, that it can’t be anything else.”
V: And the RESIST title, did you come up with that?
MP: Yes, and I didn't name it or that name didn't strike me until it was finished. It was just kind of like, oh, it's RESIST, that it can't be anything else. It just felt whether or not it pertained to the image and what was depicted, it was just at the time how I felt, and especially because it was for this particular place at that particular time.
V: Kind of like the juxtaposition of Trump in office, and this new gym forming right at this time. The two coming together, like what a perfect time.
MP: It was a perfect time, and it just reinforced the idea of community and identity, and sort of having our little fortress of safety. I’ve been in a queer bubble for so long that I forget about the other side, and then everything is so normal until (and I don't mean to otherness people), but we're clearly in a bubble. But it's so safe and it's so nice, and I’d do anything to maintain and preserve that safe space. It would be ideal if we didn't have to, but if we have to, then we must! Ha!
V: Yes, we must! Now more than ever. The sh*t is just accelerating exponentially. Yeah, this place has always been that root, or that space for a lot of people. So it's good to see some things still standing the test of time, your mural, the space, the mission…everything.
MP: Yeah, and growing and you know… just being so positive.
“...the juxtaposition of Trump in office, and this new gym forming. The two coming together, like what a perfect time. ”
V. in front of Maria’s mural setting up for the artist’s reception. (2017)
“...it just reinforced the idea of community and identity, and sort of having our little fortress of safety...it’s so safe and it’s so nice, and I’d do anything to maintain and preserve that safe space. It would be ideal if we didn’t have to, but if we have to, then we must!”
You may see Maria at the gym, your local art gallery, or about town, but you can always catch her vibes in our space or at www.mariapineres.com.
‘Levity Floats’ by Maria Piñeres (2020) Walter Maciel Gallery
Maria is currently represented by Walter Maciel Gallery in Culver City. Please contact for commissions.
Needlepoint work by Maria Piñeres.