This interview by journalist Margarita D'Amico with Marisol [Escobar] begins with a brief look at the exhibition on the fish theme held at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York. D’Amico asks the artist about the most important characteristics of her work, as well as her vision of art and of the world in general. Much of the interview revolves around the question of the inner life and the search for identity. The interview attempts to shed light on Marisol as a person—her “human qualities.”

This interview by Margarita D'Amico with Venezuelan-North American sculptor Marisol [Escobar] (b. 1930) took place on the occasion of an exhibition of the artist’s work at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York. The interview occurred in the home-studio of the artist in New York, but was not published until Marisol traveled to Venezuela for her first solo show at the Galería Estudio Actual in Caracas. Like D’Amico, Roberto Guevara embarked on the difficult task of interviewing Marisol, but he ultimately decided that the idea of an interview in the classical sense was “absurd” due to Marisol’s ungraspable nature. Venezuelan journalist and curator D’Amico, on the other hand, insisted on the interview format to somewhat peculiar results. Despite D’Amico’s many efforts to maintain a fluid conversation, the impenetrability of Marisol’s character is evident throughout the interview; she responds to questions with single words or short sentences, making it difficult for the interviewer to obtain what would undoubtedly be valuable information on the artist’s creative philosophy and visual conceptions.

Marisol’s uneasiness during interviews is evident in this text as well as in later interviews. The text fails to achieve its goal of helping to make Marisol’s work known to the Venezuelan art audience. Regardless, conclusions about Marisol’s current and future position in the art world can be drawn from the interview: she does not want to be put into any category and therefore, refuses to call herself a Pop artist; she wants to move beyond political art to produce more abstract work and has lost interest in the New York art scene.

On Marisol’s work, see Roberto Guevara’s texts, “Con Marisol y a veces sin ella. Crónica de una no entrevista” (ICAA digital archive doc. no. 116373) and “Para encontrar a Marisol” (doc. no. 1163541); "Águeda Hernández C.’s (untitled) [...Nunca ha sido expuesta en Venezuela...]” (doc. no. 1163350); and Akiko Hyuga’s essay, “Marisol: Marisol in the 60s—Social Satire and Search for Identity” (doc. no. 1163366).