NEW IMAGE ART

RANDOM SH*T WITH JAQUE FRAGUA

I met up with Jaque at Empire Seven Studios in San Jose, CA.

When I pulled up to the gallery, I caught Spencer Keeton Cunningham working on the mural he and Jaque  collaborated on. Without even asking I already felt something funky in the air. Spencer told me Jaque was inside as they were dealing with creative differences.

I go inside to find Jaque taking deep breaths and cooling off. 

To ease things up I said a joke about artists being artists. He giggled it off gave me a hug and we started with the questions.

# Introduce yourself Jaque Fragua is my name and I’m from Albuquerque, New Mexico by way of Jemez Pueblo Reservation, which is an hour outside from the city. I’m a traveling artist, working artist, thriving artist, sometimes starving artist.

# What annoys you? Lack of confidence in myself and other people. I feel like because I’m an artist I’m the most critical type of being there could be in this world. With that said I am very critical of myself and unfortunately I’m so critical of others. What bothers myself about myself I usually see that in other people and it drives me crazy. I’m a perfectionist. If things start swaying off the path I’m trying to carve, it gets under my skin.

# If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature what new animal would you create? I would create a shark/ cougar.

# The letter O is for… Orgasm.

# Where did you grow up? I grew up on a reservation.

# What makes you nervous? Interviews.

# Name five of your favorite foods. Chili… I’m gonna sound terrible for saying this, but umm, deer meat… I would say kale and the fourth and fifth would be brown rice and the last one would be blueberries.

# Day time or night time? Night time.

# What’s your favorite quote? My favorite quote of all time is, well it translates to… it’s better to die on your feet then live on your knees by Emiliano Sabata. It means its better to live passionately and what u intend to do or accomplish rather than live as a slave.

# The last thing to make you cry.  Oh god. Let’s see… that’s very very hard. Truly cry.. umm my great grandmother, she passed away and when that happened… There’s a cemetery on the reservation no one takes cares of it except for the people it involves. I’ve buried a lot of people in that cemetery from my family and I never cried really until I buried my great grand mother. That was super tough. You know… being the one digging a hole.

# What impresses you? Wisdom.

# First thing you think of when I say “beep beep!” Who’s got the keys to the jeep!

# Are u usually late early or right on time? Right on time.

# If you won the lottery what’s the first thing you’d buy? If I won the lottery I would buy, actually, I would invest in some sort of economic venture for my tribe.

# What are some of your nick names. Heart Break Jaque. Fox Trot aka… let’s see what else… aka SUS Boy aka there’s a lot and I can’t think of it all right now. 

# Tell me something special about your mom. My mom has psychic powers and she’s the best cook in the world.

# Train, plane, car or ship? Train, duh.

# What gets you bored? I would say, the internet.

# What five words would a close friend describe you as? Stubborn, patient, funny, articulate, (brutally) honest.

# What do you love about yourself?  I love that I can be present, to feel and experience life in all it’s shame and glory.

jaqueheartbreak.com

Studio visit with artist, Don’t Fret, weeks before group show, “Gentrifried”.