Chat with Claudio Urbina aka Exit Sense
Tell me about yourself – name, where are you from? What is your medium? What was your childhood like? Do you have any artists in your family?
My name is Claudio Urbina and my artist moniker is Exit Sense. I was born in Hialeah Hospital. My dad was born in Granada, Nicaragua and my mom was born in Santa Clara, Cuba. My preferred medium is digital art. This encompasses sound art, video art and net art. My childhood was mostly awkward and lonely – I read Harry Potter and played Pokémon. My family is not artistically inclined. My grandpa paints but he is not very knowledgeable about art.
What drove you to choose your medium and the subject matter in your work? Describe a situation or person that inspired you.
I have been addicted to the Internet for years. This addiction includes listening to, downloading and rating obscure music and cinema in search for the most sublime experiences. I attribute the development of my music and film taste to a certain niche of users on rateyourmusic.com. Ultimately what led me to my current style of DJing, remixing and appropriating was encountering Elysia Crampton and various other artists like her on Soundcloud. She pieces sounds from dissimilar genres in a strikingly original and painterly way – and like me she is queer and Latinx. I realized I can create a whole new world out of existing material, and there is so much I have accumulated from my years of listening to music and watching films that gives me an upper hand in DJing and appropriating.
What is your creative process like?
My creative production would not exist if I did not also spend a lot of time consuming different types of music and art. I like to search for a sound that doesn’t exist. When ideas spring into mind, there will come up sounds that already exist. Imagining sounds from different places converge is like imagining cultural norms collide in a way that would be considered unusual. This is why I feel my work is at once grounded in and pertinent to people’s realities while also boundary-pushing and inherently a plea for the new and unconventional – and this is what I strive for. I may imagine beforehand which sounds and imagery I would like to try using. But sometimes I simply look through my library and drag something onto the interface and judge then how it looks or sounds.
What would you say is the most important part of your work?
Even when the source material is not mine, even when I wear influences heavily on my sleeve, my work should feel original in a way that is necessary for my time and culture.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
To fail. Failure through trial and error is a crucial component of learning.
How do you know when a work is finished?
My artwork feels finished when I’ve said what I wanted to say with it and it has no flaws or room to improve, unless I simply give up or don’t care.
How would you judge your success as an artist?
If I am making a change I want to see in the world then I am succeeding. If I feel I am expressing my ideas correctly, am addicted to the beauty of my own work and am not cringing at myself then I am succeeding. When other artists whose work I admire appreciate my art, I feel that I am succeeding. Juliana Huxtable, one of my favorite DJs, recently messaged me saying she loves my music. At this stage of my life I feel I am succeeding at a good rate, but I am still in roughly the beginning of a lifelong practice with no finish line. Art will always be necessary in my life irrespective of money or recognition.
What’s your favorite place to see art?
I discover music and film on Rate Your Music, Soundcloud and various other places online. Ubuweb has an impressive collection of videos. I like looking at independently run online magazines like O Fluxo.
What’s the most indispensable thing in your studio?
Laptop, internet connection, my external hard drives organized with years of music hoarding.
Do you collect anything?
I hoard music digitally. I also have a collection of vinyl records that I don’t keep up anymore.
What’s the first artwork you ever made?
I don’t remember. I do remember writing stories, comics and even novels in middle and high school.
What under-appreciated work, gallery or artist would you like to mention?
MHYSA (the DJ/musician). I’m obsessed with her Thot Fantasy mixes.
Anything you’d like to mention that I didn’t ask?
Maybe later.