Engaging artists in conversation is something we’re always trying to do at Gallery Aferro, after all our building houses twenty or so artist studios, including my own. This video chat was recorded on March 27, 2020, and at this time governances and best practices evolving due to the spread of COVID-19 require us to practice social distancing. Gallery Aferro decided to temporarily close its doors to the public, deciding instead to engage our audience online.

While we sought to use our current show “Glimpse” as a starting point, my mind also went to the many artists in Aferro’s residency program, one of them being friend and studio neighbor Jo-El Lopez. Jo-El is a fixture in the Newark, NJ art scene, becoming a mentor to various artists and a sought out painter in his own right – two of his artworks are in the permanent collection of the Newark Museum of Art and he is collected across the country.

In this video we talk about the ways the present time quarantine has affected both of our artistic practices, how we work with and interpret colors in our work, as well as the intention behind our art. ■

– Juno Zago