In this episode, we reconnect with a wild, crazy and fun individual I lost track of for many years. We met in the golden times of partying, skateboarding, and partying again in my beloved and chaotic hometown, Mexico City. Since then, she’s been a busy bunny bear working, travelling and doing international collaborations with artists like Yoshua Okon, Raymond Pettibon, Snorri Ásmundsson, The Gelatin Austrian Group and the band Titan to name a few; she also has put a big emphasis on her drawings, paintings and solo projects.
Raised in a family of artists, all she knew as a kid was art. From an early age, she started to dabble in her drawings, and around five years old, she began to study theatre for the next five years. In her teens, she travelled to Vienna to visit some friends who had met previously at a contemporary art gallery called ‘La Panaderia’ in Mexico City. Shortly after, she was sent to study highschool in Italy, and later on, at the age of 18, she was invited to enroll in The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. According to Wikipedia, the Academy is famous outside the arts community for rejecting Adolf Hitler twice (in 1907 and 1908) because of his unfitness for painting.
From Vienna to living in Berlin and working in Los Angeles, Sara has been on a wild roller coaster of mixed emotional challenges throughout her life. Ladies and Gents, I present to you raw and uncut “Meeting with Sara Glaxia – A true Artistic Heart”
Where are you from?
I was born by hippy parents who lived at the time on the west coast in Mexico.
How did you start your career?
I started working as an art assistant for Yoshua Okon in Mexico city for the gallery “La Panaderia” in 1999.
I always see you with bunny ears. Why?
Sara Glaxia is the princess of the Empire State of Sabotage
Is this part of your performing act?
Why did you start performing?
Photo by Palazzo Salotto Wien, Trieste (Wien significa Vienna en aleman)
You mentioned you were bullied by your classmates, why?
Your success pretty much happened overnight, how did you manage it?
It seems you have been living a little bit of a rock star lifestyle, would you consider it like that?
I really dreamed of being a normal person
Garage Project II, Schindler Haus, MAK Center Los Angeles, 2010
Why did you go to Los Angeles?
How come you got lost in translation?
How was living in Austria?
What is the most challenging task/s you encounter in your profession or daily routine?
My biggest challenge is to be an average person. To turn the stiff shoulders on daily injustice, to ignore racists or womanizers. I try my best to don’t get aggressive when I encounter such things around where I live.
Talk to us about your creative process?
What are your sources of inspiration?
You recently enrolled in a Ph.D., what is it about?
It’s about Water entities
What does painting represent in your life?
I do it for a passion and it’s always being that way. Is who I’m and what I’m.
Tell us how you came up with your most successful painting?
Serpentine Illusions Book
Publisher: Royal Book Lodge | 2015, Paris (Montreuil) | 1 x 2 cm
What are you working on at the moment?
I am finishing the paintings for the next show in Vienna and working on a video for a song by musician Christopher Chaplin.
If any, what do you consider to be a failure in your career?
What’s driving your life right now?
What is your favourite social media and why?
I’m on Facebook a lot, although I use it for social matters and issues, not really for my personal life, to keep in touch with my friends in other countries, it’s handy for reaching out to people for free. I started using Instagram, but in fact, I feel as if social media rather destroy society instead of uniting it or helping it thrive.
What do you believe it’s a fundamental part of your life?
Food and beer. I love eating! I eat everything and try to stay as much into cruelty-free and less carbon-free fusils as possible. I don’t overeat meat only on random occasions.
I also love cycling, snowboarding, loud music and hanging out with the skateboarders.
If you had the chance, what would you tell your old self? Would you change something?
What do you consider is your kryptonite?
Do you have any regrets?
Yeees! A lot! I’ll prefer not to focus on that, LOL!
What are your bad habits?
I have the bad habit of lamenting myself about B$&^#! It’s kind of stupid, I don’t know why I do this.
What does success means to you?
Get things done! Haha. Finishing what has been started.
Describe three things that make you happy.
Snowboarding! Music & Eating. My leisure is to be alone, actually to not be disturbed by my landlord or stupid people makes me happy.
Describe three things that make you mad!
I only have one big topic, and what makes me mad are the people trying to tell me who I should be and what I should do. People who judge me and try to put me into a box, “I hate that!”
Tell me something that you can’t live without.
My laptop, haha! I broke one a while ago, it was hard at the beginning, but I had remembered how to live my life without computers, sometimes I feel like breaking this one.
What are your favourite hang-out places?
What do you like most about living in Vienna?
What do you dislike about Vienna? What is one thing that you would change?
I would take all of these Nazis, put them in a grinder and make sausages.
How did COVID-19 affect your life? What did you do over this time and how was your city affected?
At first, I was happy everyone was home, there were no cars nor planes polluting around, I love silence. I was very calm hanging out in nature and painting, never felt better in the city! To my big surprise, Viennese people reacted very civilly and politely during the lockdown, but now everyone is mad, bored and drinking too much. Also taking in mind people going back to work must wear a mask, plus all the regulations and blab blah, paranoid atmosphere around.
On my end, I don’t really care ’cause I used to avoid everyone anyways and as I don’t have a job that requires going to a place full of people every day, to me is like a tv show. I’m very surprised at how brainwashed everyone is, and of course, like many other artists it affected my work, for example; two of my shows got cancelled, which truly sucks for my pocket.
Performance by Sara Glaxia with Alexis Engelhardt and Johann Neumeinster for art fest “Parallel Vienna” in 2020, photos by Simone Carneiro.
From COVID to Riots. How did Black lives matter affected your city? What are your thoughts about this situation?
There are very few black people in Vienna. About the USA I don’t see the government getting any better in despite all the mess 🙁
It felt great by the idea of capitalism crashing down though it seems that the plan of the elite is to kill millions of people, slowly, in many ways, so now I don’t like COVID bullshit, I think is a hoax made to eradicate society and the economy. It’s really fucked up, now AI is taking over and dildoes will talk.
Name three of your favourite movies.
Bad Boy Bubby (1993), Pink Flamingos (1972) and Rose Mary’s Baby (1968)
What you rather pancakes or Ice cream?
Beer or Wine? Pinot noir, Gösser beer too
Intro or Extroverted?
I’m in an infinite intro-extrovert loop. If I’m drunk, I’m very extroverted, If I’m sober, I’m introverted.
Beach or Forest? Both
Movies or TV Shows?
Movies, TV-series hook me up for days, and it becomes a problem. I feel I have to finish the series and know what happens!
East Coast or West Coast
West coast
What is the next step for you?
The next step for me is to make 300 drawings at my new studio in Vienna
If you could leave with a statement, what would say?
Be True To Your Self.
SALONG FLYTTKARTONG Book ©️Linnea Sjölberg 2014 | Nilleditions Tryck av Holmbergs, Malmö
Thank you, Bunny Bear! It was an absolute pleasure catching up and being in touch with you!
Thanks for stopping by; see ya at the next meeting…
Header photo by | Johannes Karrer
All pictures of Sara as Barbie.
