Studio Visit & Interview With Maya Djiji and Lucia Aguilar
Interview and Photographs by Brandon Joseph Baker
Maya Djiji and Lucia Aguilar share a studio space in the amorphous area where Emeryville and Oakland meet. I met them at their studio to discuss their art and The Green Show they curated at Moth Belly Gallery with their co-curator, Joe Khosla. This is the second color themed show the duo have curated. The first was The Yellow Show at Adobe Books in San Francisco in 2024.
Both artists finished their formal art education around the beginning of The Pandemic, 2020 for Maya and 2019 for Lucia. This current time and space in their craft and art feels like a delayed yet fresh start. Their optimism and eagerness to bring together community is seen in the 50+ artists featured in The Green Show. Inclusivity and sharing openly their friends' art comes naturally to these two.
'Each color show is a celebration of the respective color, it's not about a larger statement. We really just wanted to get our friends together, celebrate our art and create an undeniably good vibe.' Maya and Lucia said about the guiding light for their curatorial efforts.
Maya is a maker who prefers to use her hands in her work. With a penchant for collecting and using bright primary colors her work is united by pallet but crosses mediums. I spotted stained glass, pottery, ceramics, knitting, textiles and framing in the studio. Even the art car in the studio parking lot is an extension of her expressive handiwork. She teaches at UC Berkeley Art Studio and also dabbles in a bit of filmmaking.
Lucia is a painter with an appreciation for satire and humor. Highly influenced by the omnipresent message driven billboard and meme culture, her work mirrors humorously what our saturated media landscape spits out. She also crosses into different mediums, she's a singer and her contribution to The Green Show is a flag she sewed reading 'LET YOUR FREAK FLAB FLY'.
Interview
What brought you all together to curate The Green Show?
Maya: We had the idea for The Yellow Show while we were just hanging out in the studio. After we curated The Yellow Show, Joe mentioned to us that she was interested in co-curating The Green Show so we decided to put it on together.
Lucia: Maya originally came up with the yellow theme and at the opening many folks asked us what color we would do next. I don’t think we can just leave it at two shows and are already brainstorming what’s next.
What was the impetus to bring 50 artists together for this show? How did you manage to wrangle that many different artists?
Maya: All of the artists in the show are either friends or people we admire! I think it is an amazing thing to put together a group show because all of the artists get to share space together, meet each other and be a part of a collective energy.
Lucia: It was also a happy accident. The Yellow Show was 30 people because we wanted to put everyone on. The Green Show is 50 because collectively between 3 curators, instead of 2, we have more voices to invite.
The Green Show was thematically driven by color and united by gender, how did you decide on these two caveats for your curatorial efforts? Was there anything else that drove your curation of this show?
Maya and Lucia: We created the color series in response to the absence of fun and whimsy in the art scene around us. We wanted to put together a large group show to uplift our friends, acquaintances and peers that we haven’t seen included in the male dominated shows and galleries around the Bay. We chose not to heavily publicize that no cis men artists were invited because everyone is welcome to enjoy the fruits of our collective labor. We feared that publicizing this distinction would cause confusion as to “who is allowed” to come see the show. The answer is absolutely everyone! The gender aspect of our artist requirements wasn’t a big concept in the show at all, it was more so a preference of who we wanted to work with and promote. The reason we chose a color as the theme was because of its aesthetic cohesion and broad range of concepts artists can incorporate that can still successfully fit together. Also, it’s fun!
The opening of the show on April 3, 2025 was massive and brought a variety of people through the gallery, what do you credit the eclectic and robust turn out to?
Maya and Lucia: Our show had a huge turnout because of the success of all of the artists we invited and the excitement around such a huge group of accomplished people. The turnout was a product of how strong our community is in the DIY art scene. The diverse range of folks is due to our huge range of artists from all over the Bay and beyond as well as the First Thursdays crowd who show out to support the SF art scene!
What is your take on the DIY scene in The Bay Area right now as we navigate a post pandemic environment?
Maya and Lucia: We think people are eager to participate in the community and get out of the house. The pandemic has caused our small artist community to dwindle. With that being said, the DIY scene never dies and people are more excited to show up to events because of the 3 year lull the pandemic caused. We refuse to accept that The Bay is “dead” because it's not! Though people have left, there are many working artists, making really cool art who are eager to show it.
As art studio mates working in different mediums, how would you describe the experience of working together in the space?
Maya: I couldn't imagine having a studio without friends. Having Lucia in the studio with me makes artmaking less lonely, we talk to each other about what we are working on, and it's the reason why this group show came together in the first place. I think there's a healthy level of solitude and time shared that fuels my practice. I wouldn't want to be in my art-making space completely alone because life is supposed to be shared.
This question is for Lucia; you are a musician and a painter, is there an overlap in those two forms of artistic expression for you?
Lucia: Yes definitely. Exclamation is important to me as well as words and poetry. I love to consider the weight of words and any double meanings they could have. When thinking about double meanings it leads me into a rabbit hole of metaphor, simile and humor. I love word play because of the depth of meaning it can create within mundane sentiments and the cognitive dissonance it echoes. As for now, none of my paintings are directly related to my music and they feel separate, but they both share the fascination of language and words. My paintings express a more clever, humorous side of my personality and my music expresses a deeper, spiritual side.
Lucia, you use text and satirical humor in your paintings. Where does that come from and can you talk about what inspires you to work in this way?
Lucia: Constant bombardment of text and images whether it be billboards, commercials, emails, little videos, you name it. I have felt overwhelmed with the amount of media I consume for many years now. It’s become the visual language that I speak in and I can’t really help it. I also firmly believe there’s not enough humor in the art world. It’s boring and dry and not weird enough, and therefore not reflective of real life! I find disrupting the seriousness of a gallery or museum to be important work.
Maya, I like the bold primary colors in your art, what is it that brings you to this palette as you explore a variety of mediums for your craft?
Maya: I love using a very saturated palette, it has always been very comfortable for me. It’s not something I ever really question, it just comes naturally. Sometimes I try to make an effort to use more muted tones to balance out the oversaturation but that can be a challenge. These colors make me feel safe and bring me joy. I make things I want to be surrounded by and with a world that can be so dark, why not use a lot of color!
Maya, you mentioned your love of the process collecting, how does that manifest in the studio and in your art?
Maya: I have always been a collector of special objects and was introduced to thrift shopping and antique stores at a young age. I like to surround myself with treasures that inspire me, I am definitely a maximalist. These days, I have really tried to slow down on collecting, making sure that I only acquire the most special of objects, and I feel this way about artmaking too. I used to think the more the better when I was in undergrad at CCA, I wanted to create a world and I wanted to make it fast and big. Now I am taking much more time on my world, and trying to slow down.
Now that you’ve curated a yellow and green show, what’s next?
Maya and Lucia: The Purple Show! Who wants to host us???? Lol.
Thank you both for taking the time to speak with me and for curating The Green Show. The show runs until May 10th, 2025 at Moth Belly Gallery, 912 Larkin Street.
