Collage, puppet artist looks for ‘magik’ in his creations

Charles Aguilar’s latest show is at Grace Ridge Brewery

Photo courtesy of Grace Ridge Brewery 
One of the works in Charles Aguilar’s show that opened March 5 at Grace Ridge Brewery in Homer.

Photo courtesy of Grace Ridge Brewery One of the works in Charles Aguilar’s show that opened March 5 at Grace Ridge Brewery in Homer.

From collages to puppets, for Charles Aguilar, art is magic — or “magik,” as he spells it in his artist’s statement for his new show at Grace Ridge Brewery.

Art “comes from a place deep within our dreams and subconscious,” he writes in the description of his show.

“I’m a firm believer in the world of magic and the world of art and how it works,” Aguilar said in a phone interview on Monday. “… This whole idea of what art does — it’s the power you put into it. That’s what I’m trying to tap into with the art that I do.”

Born and raised in San Fernando, California — “Bing Crosby’s backyard,” he said — Aguilar is from the Acjaehemen tribe in the San Capistrano area. Mostly self-taught, he attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, studying theater. He credits relatives and mentors who gave him a background in the arts by taking him to museums and teaching him about literature and art. Recently turned 50, Aguilar first came to Homer to visit Nancy Johnson, a friend from California. They fell in love and he settled here and married Johnson eight years ago. Known for her dot painting technique, Johnson also is an artist and had a show at Grace Ridge in January.

For a show he did at Bunnell Street Arts Center in December 2020 and at his new show at Grace Ridge, Aguilar primarily works in collages, assemblages of found art and graphics from places like old pulp comic books.

“A lot of his collage pieces that I like are so carefully cut and simple, but the images he says he’s been carrying around for years,” said Brianna Allen, executive director at Bunnell. “As artists, that’s what we do: We collect and collect until one moment we put them together and show them.”

Aguilar said he takes inspiration from several artists, but is most influenced in collage by the work of Winston Smith, a collage artist who did the album art for the punk rock band Dead Kennedys. A musician as well, Aguilar plays guitar, ukulele and harmonica, and in California was in a punk band, Car Crash Girl Friend.

The art of Smith “just blew me away,” Aguilar said.

“That whole idea of how he is able to take these images and put them together with other and create a subtext … I found that very powerful,” he said.

Aguilar finds the images for his collages mostly from old books. Locally, the bookstore An Observance of Hermits has been a treasure trove for him.

“I love to find old bookstores. I love to go to yard sales and find books,” he said. “… I love to find things that have been used a tear apart.”

The 1960s Time-Life book series that covered everything from science to the Old West has proven to be particularly valuable, Aguilar said.

“They’re just cluttered with images,” he said. “It’s great stuff. I just really dig it.”

He said he remembered as a kid going to an uncle’s house where he found a pile of old comics in the corner, the kind of comics that had advertisements for things like X-ray spectacles.

“What’s going to pop out? What’s going to call me?” Aguilar said of the images he finds. “I put things together. In my world, it does it itself. They’re going to go where they need to go. … Out of all the chaos, the order comes out, the image.”

Aguilar also creates large, wearable puppets. Some are political, like a Donald Trump puppet he wore at a protest last month against the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots. For the March for Women after Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, Aguilar made and wore a giant puppet holding the earth in her hands that he called “Inez” and said represented all women.

“She’s very much a symbol of my own mother in the sense she works very, very hard,” Aguilar said.

Other puppets have been apolitical, like that of a sandhill crane Aguilar made for the Bunnell Street Arts Center’s Dinner in the Street fundraiser. He also has worn his puppets at Salmonfest.

Allen said she and Bunnell found it great to work with Aguilar.

“He was just ready to do something together,” Allen said. “… He’s just a ‘yes’ kind of guy. That’s so great to have in a collaborative project.”

In wearing his puppets, Aguilar said he draws on his theater background.

“With the puppets, with the performance, you become that thing,” he said. “You’re able to step out of yourself and become this thing and explore it.”

Elsewhere in the Homer art scene, Aguilar also has worked with artist Mavis Muller on her Burning Basket projects. Muller took him under her wing, he said.

“In conjunction with working with her, it just pulled that punch and gets you right there,” he said. “That’s powerful. I think that kind of energy, that kind of magic she has is amazing. I’m glad she shares it with me.”

Aguilar said he wanted to thank Allen and Bunnell Street Arts Center artistic director Asia Freeman for encouraging him in his art. One of his first pieces shown in Homer was at Bunnell’s 10-by-10 show.

“They’re fully instrumental in assisting me and inspiring me to do things,” he said. “… I do have to thank them for giving me that opportunity to do my art. They also were inspirational to me. They kicked me in the butt and said I had to do something.”

Reach Michael Armstrong at marmstrong@homernews.com.

Some of the works in Charles Aguilar’s show opening Friday, March 5, 2021, at Grace Ridge Brewery in Homer, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Grace Ridge Brewery)

Some of the works in Charles Aguilar’s show opening Friday, March 5, 2021, at Grace Ridge Brewery in Homer, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Grace Ridge Brewery)

Charles Aguilar operates his puppet of Mother Earth at the start of the Women’s March on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017, in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Charles Aguilar operates his puppet of Mother Earth at the start of the Women’s March on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017, in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

One of the works in Charles Aguilar’s show opening Friday, March 5, 2021, at Grace Ridge Brewery in Homer, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Grace Ridge Brewery)

One of the works in Charles Aguilar’s show opening Friday, March 5, 2021, at Grace Ridge Brewery in Homer, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Grace Ridge Brewery)

One of the works in Charles Aguilar’s show opening Friday, March 5, 2021, at Grace Ridge Brewery in Homer, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Grace Ridge Brewery)

One of the works in Charles Aguilar’s show opening Friday, March 5, 2021, at Grace Ridge Brewery in Homer, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Grace Ridge Brewery)

More in Life

"Octopus" is an acrylic painting by new co-op member Heather Mann on display at Ptarmigan Arts in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Ptarmigan Arts
July First Friday in Homer

Homer’s galleries and public art spaces celebrate with new and ongoing exhibits.

Frank Rowley and his youngest child, Raymond, stand in knee-deep snow in front of the protective fence around the main substation for Mountain View Light & Power in Anchorage in 1948 or ’49. This photo was taken a year or two before Rowley moved to Kenai to begin supplying electrical power to the central peninsula. (Photo courtesy of the Rowley Family)
Let there be light: The electrifying Frank Rowley — Part 2

In July 1946, the soft-spoken Rowley was involved in an incident that for several consecutive days made the front page of the Anchorage Daily Times.

This nostalgic sauce is so shockingly simple, you’ll never buy a bottle again. Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion
America’s favorite culinary representative

The original recipe for ranch dressing was invented and perfected in Alaska, out in the bush in 1949.

Graphics show the nine finalists in three age groups for the Soldotna “I Voted” sticker design contest. (Provided by City of Soldotna)
Soldotna announces finalists for ‘I Voted’ sticker contest

Public voting will be open until July 20 to determine the winners.

Homer’s Cosmic Creature Club performs at the 2024 Concert on the Lawn at Karen Hornaday Park. (Emilie Springer/Homer News file)
July events to provide entertainment and fun on lower Kenai Peninsula

Events include the Highland Games, Concert on the Lawn, local art camps and the Ninilchik Rodeo.

Nick Varney
Unhinged Alaska: Flashback dreams and the cold sweats

When summer arrives, every personage in the known cosmos suddenly seems to remember that they have kindred living in Alaska.

File
Minister’s Message: Freedom is not what you think

If freedom isn’t what we first think it is, what is it?

This is the Kenai Power complex. The long side of the plant faces the Frank Rowley home, seen here at the right side of the photograph. (Photo courtesy of the Rowley Family)
Let there be light: The electrifying Frank Rowley — Part 1

Frank Rowley made one of the most important steps toward modernization in the history of Kenai.

”Thread of Light” is an acrylic painting done this year by Dan Coe on display through June at the Art Shop Gallery in Homer, Alaska. Photo by Christina Whiting
Fine art in invented spaces

Anchor Point artist showcases his skills with exhibit of acrylic paintings.

A variety of peony blooms grow vibrantly on Pioneer Avenue on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
6th annual Peony Celebration begins July 1

The festival will run in Homer through Aug. 17.

This cake stacks colored crepes for a brilliant rainbow breakfast. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)
Crepes of a different color

This rainbow cake celebrates Pride with layers of colored crepes.