Head of School and Developmental Specialist at wBees Forest School, Ridgewood Queens

Researcher at The Center for Research with Infants and Toddlers, The New School for Social Research

Co-Founder and Director at El Sótano Art Space

VICTORIA LUZURIAGA BASTIDAS 

ARTIST--RESEARCHER-EDUCATOR

FROM ECUADOR, BASED IN QUEENS, NY

My artistic work is highly influenced by my scientific background, bringing the concepts of experimentation, chance, and finding parallels between daily life and the forces of nature that are constantly reacting with them. I concentrate on manipulating analog materials by using chemical and biological influences to create an alternative form of visualizing reality. Using a research-based approach to build on the historical, cultural, and psychological structures allows me to create a visual understanding of the questions and issues I explore within my work. The literal and figurative coexist within the crevices of my mutilation of the materials and mediums. Piecing together a variety of inspirational sources and my current research within the laboratory, my work communicates in a language that is woven throughout my body of work and falls somewhere in between science and art.   

In addition to my artistic practice, I am an instructor and researcher in the field of Early Childhood Development. My research at The Center for Research with Infants and Toddlers at the Department of Psychology at The New School for Social Research in New York City informs my educational practice at wBees Forest School located in Ridgewood, Queens. Through an expressive and holistic approach, I use exploration as the foundation of learning through which students are encouraged to be creative and analytic and to produce their own style of learning that is best suited to their individual needs.

As part of my curatorial practice, I also conduct research and projects that focus on the historical, political, and social constructions of alternative, nonprofit, and non-commercial art spaces in New York City and abroad. My focus on the rejection of capitalistic and commercial ties to art for the purpose of the artist's raw creative intentions goes back throughout the history of the artist-run space scene. It has inspired me to create El Sótano Art Space, a non-profit satellite art organization centered around catalyzing art dialog and building community. For more information, you can visit our website at: elsotanoartspace.com

Under the umbrella of socially engaged art, I have been working with local and often marginalized communities within my own hometown in Ecuador. Using art as a language, a foundation, and a tool, I conduct projects that activate the community, particularly the youth populations, to take action and initiate productive and positive change within their social circles.