JULIUS CAVIRA
Cavira is an interdisciplinary Conceptual Artist… nuff said.
To ever find peace as an artist, you must finish your vision, if not death awaits
. . . .
To ever find peace as an artist, you must finish your vision, if not death awaits . . . .
Soon to be Published, summer 2022- look for it at your local bookstores: Traveling Troubled Wallflower is a thesis by Julius Cavira's written body of work that explores artistic research, investigations of the art world, and perspectives of the struggling practicing artist who decided to go to grad art school during the global Pandemic; as well as designed with the intention for public consumption. The written work discusses a narrative predominately rooted in a conversation between one protagonist and two or more antagonists. The text is one solution to the prevailing problem of the disconnect between the art world and the people with whom the art was made and illuminates the human condition through fine art.
First for Grad Sculpture, Commencement Speaker for Class 2022 (I was told). Let the record show, it was GPD Heather Rowe’s advice to rewrite the commencement speech to be more personal, rather than political and universal. Two completely different tonal drafts was turned in, and both drafts were merged to make the final 3rd draft, shown in video at 47:43 min.
“Exhausted, fatigued, taunted and bloated, I gave what I could— honestly, I wasn’t my best, stumbled my words and choked up on stage!”
https://www.risd.edu/news/annual-events/commencement
RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition Class of 2022:
https://publications.risdmuseum.org/grad-show-2022-sculpture/julius-cavira
“Gone, Not Forgotten?” ; 72” x 120” inches; mix media, bleach, charcoal, on embroider national flag; 2021
Commentary: “Letting the work evolve is a vital part of my practice, and many of the artists I come to know and research do the same. The process changes which can be financially taxing. And in the middle of that, doubt fills your thoughts and soon you’re doomed; but I tell myself, “finish the vision to ever find peace.” And so I continue intuitively. Initially I was thinking of the plethora of banter in the news, media and how all my efforts regardless of what— the two tours to Iraq, canvasing for a cause, feeding the elderly & poor, entertaining summer camp kids or the developmental disabled, would it ever make a difference in a capitalist society? With the heavy heart I continue with my disappointment. There was a time, I was with my US Army Convoy and we needed to secure a “black-site,” a place where “action” is very real. I was tasked to be a Humvee gunner, then the gossip of sniper fire came around to me. Realizing the precious time we have felt so real and tangible to me even more. Visually interpreting that trauma might help me and hopefully others as well.”
“Postwar Sandbox PTSD Therapy” ; (TBA dimensions); acrylic paint; sand; metal folding chair on foam board; 2021
Commentary: “The backstory of “Postwar Sandbox PTSD Therapy” is about my time with the US Army Military Police Company that I was assigned to who were all deployed to Iraq. The nickname to the country was “Sandbox” and with all the hell that we all went through, the mortar fire raining down on us, the blackout nights for days at a time, securing “black-sites,” the possibility of being overrun by the Iraqi citizens we were training for the Iraqi Military & Police, etc. with all that was said it would take forever to debunk any of it to feel normal and part of the world again. The piece is a visual representation of that feeling. Letting the sands of time to reveal the metal folding chair that is usually seen in therapy, and in therapy groups— to be present in the therapy sessions, rather than ruminating of a past long gone.”
The writing practice of an artist is just important as the work itself, because mistakes are guaranteed and usually made again. Some of those times you want to keep on writing and express other parts of your thinking. My work in writing led me to RISD’s Volume 1 Newspaper, which also have a digital version as well. I prefer the printed version, it’s very telling, tangible and smells like accomplishment, success, and bravery… if not lunacy.
https://volume-1.org/Breakfast-with-Rosie
“Guilt Stricken Religious Obligations” ; (stretched) 176” x 12” x 6” inches; mix media, epoxy, on plastic and ceramics; 2021
Commentary: “My piece, ‘Guilt Stricken Religious Obligations’ deals with my time with a youth group that I was forced to be with throughout my youth because I was targeted as a “troubled youth.” One of many ways as a penance was to make rosaries to give away for free to the local senior citizen nursing care home. I was in this religious youth group for five or more years, making rosaries to the point of carpal tunnel pain in both hands. And for what? The concept is about visually representing and linking child slave labor to the rosary. The solution was a ball & chain rosary laid out on the floor. It was ironic to once again find myself making a rosary again, and was reluctant to find the humor of it. To see past my connection to the piece is the fact of how Catholicism have brainwashed its followers of its idealism, and punish ourselves to think or question Catholic principles.”
“36 Month Prescribed Trauma;” mix media on foam board; (various sizes); 2020
“The artist and their art are one and the same, it is a reflection that can be so clear, or completely indecipherable, yet it is there waiting for us to find it.”
- Julius Cavira
“Mental Medical Shackle”; Acrylic on interior plastic sheeting, tape, wire and foam board; 96” x 48” x 1/8” inches; 2021
“Free Advice, A Chaplain’s Vice;” Nylon bags, hardware, and canvas on PVC pipes; 109” x 75” x 90” inches; 2021
Julius Cavira grew up in Chicago, Illinois; he won art competitions, which earned him, free art classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Later he earned his Bachelor’s of Fine Art at SAIC with the focus of oil painting and affiliated with various clubs and artist-activist culture/ethnic groups for raising awareness. After graduation, Cavira volunteered to AmeriCorps, CampHill, YMCA of the Redwoods and then enlisted to the US Army, to defer and pay off student debt. After two tours to Iraq, honorably discharged from the US Army and relocating several times, he settled in the Midwest; it was there where he was able to jump start his artistic career initially in oil painting and then he fabricated conceptual art sculpture which helped his admittance to RISD. Enrolling into RISD’s Graduate program helps to recall from what he learned during his undergraduate art school years, as well as, raise his artistic career through visual arts.