"Masa is Miguel Vásquez, born in Caracas, Venezuela and educated in his hometown at PRO Diseño Visual Communication School. However Masa is on the move and currently setting up his new studio in Mexico City, a distance of over 2200 miles from Caracus. This is an interesting move for Vásquez – ‘I began in Caracas as a self-taught designer, starting out by designing posters and flyers and very influenced by my late father, always himself involved painting, drawing and design, but Mexico is a great place for new opportunities, for a good quality of life, awesome people and a huge amount of local talent and new ventures going on’ he enthuses.
Masa, initially a ‘playground for creative ideas’ has grown to become a truly vibrant studio with high-standing industry status reflected by the global client list of impressive companies, for whom the studio creates visual solutions that have a strong emphasis in Latin American pop and contemporary street culture. ‘I work to blend forms and ideas and produce crossovers between urban and folklore references,’ explains Vásquez, and it is from the street that many of these references emerge.
Mexico City has street culture positively rising up from the dusty streets of the capital itself – the economic, industrial and cultural centre of the country; it is home to almost 19 million people, making it the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the Americas and the 3rd largest agglomeration on the planet. It is one big, bustling centre of culture – home to more museums and theaters than any other city in the Spanish-speaking world.
Masa’s ability to move seamlessly between self-generated underground apparel projects, influenced by his surroundings, and then resurface to produce graphics for Adidas, Burton, Nike or any other high profile brand is certainly paying dividends creatively. Whether it be the intense colour treatments or the use of radical and vibrant patterns or simply Vásquez’s unique drawing ability – there is a vibe within the studio’s output that is impossible to pin down to a ‘house’ style, yet the work exudes Latin style, passion and ethos. ‘Work in the things you like the most and love,’ enthuses Vásquez, ‘be the best and be happy with it, and by doing the best everything else will follow as a consequence.’ It is this lust for life that provides the lifeblood and inspiration for the Masa brand; self-expression meets self-determination and a creative outlet fast taking Mexico City by storm."
Interview taken from:
http://www.zeegen.com/index.php?id=107
Thirty Conversations on Design
Taken from:
http://thirtyconversationsondesign.com/miguel-vasquez
"Created in 1997, Masa is the brainchild of Miguel Vasquez. Operating out of Venezuela, MASA (Vasquez) has been internationally know for his graphic style, one that fuses both urban and folklore graphics. Vasquez has received many awards for his print work and motion and has been exhibited in Tokyo, Barcelona, Madrid, Copenhagen, New York, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Masa has worked with clients like Nike, Volkswagen, GQ Mag, Absolute Vodka, MiniCooper, Miramax Film and many more. Check out his website for more samples of his print and motion work."
Interview taken from:
http://sozadesigns.wordpress.com/2009/06/
Taken from:
http://phase02.org/2008/08/masa/
"MASA is the solo work of Miguel Vasquez. This portfolio is an insane display of talent… a mixture of illustration and fine art all intertwined with a clean urban street feel. You may have seen the work before, but it’s worth another review. Today! Right now! Go!"
Taken from:
http://www.fairspot.com/2008/02/05/i-love-masa/
OFFICIAL MASA WEBSITE AND ONLINE PORTFOLIO:
"Venezuelan artist and designer Miguel Vasquez, aka MASA, does art direction, illustration, and motion graphics for entertainment, music, fashion, ..."
Taken from:
http://www.masa.com.ve/website.html
Masa's De La Soul work was the first I'd seen by him. As soon as I saw it I knew this was the style I wanted to strive to. It's so expressionate, free, fluid and bold. It isn't necessarily complex, but yet so effective. The different weights of line fascinate me and the way he plays with it is just beautiful. What I like most however is that he can work very delicately and also really boldly like above with the afro characters and yet keep his own very distinctive style. Another influence which I have noticed is that he seems to take inspiration from music and sport and reflects this in his work too. Also great interests of mine. It's rare that I find a style of vector illustration that really makes me tick and instantly pulls me in, but the work of
Miguel Vásque really does this for me. He is definitely someone that I keep my eye on for
inspiration with my own projects.
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