"Immersed in a make believe world, your dreams become limitless, and the contrast with the real world self-evident"

An architect and fine artist from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Andrea Dopaso moved to Los Angeles more than twenty years ago attracted to the creative possibilities offered by Hollywood. She worked as a set designer in many films including Message in a Bottle (1999), American Beauty (1999), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Van Helsing (2004) and Ocean’s Twelve (2004). Of particular interest to our students tonight are her set designs for the Spider-Man franchise (2002, 2004 and 2007), as well as Star Trek (2009), and as a maker of models for Batman & Robin (1997). Her creative endeavors also include prop illustrations and paintings in movies such as Angels & Demons (2009), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) and The Jungle Book (2016). She is the concept artist in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, to be released in summer 2017. Andrea Dopaso has noted that Hollywood gave her the opportunity to combine her love for painting and drawing with architecture, providing a foundation to create the incredible. Going through her impressive portfolio, at goodart-badart.com, one notes that her drawings, paintings and collages combine the art of the miniature and a love of significant details with bold surrealist touches. Her artwork displays an original and baroque imagination, with influences that could perhaps be traced to Dalí and Bosch. Her esthetic philosophy is nicely captured in the line that opens her website: “Art is about asking questions – illustrations is about answering them”. Tonight’s Q&A with the artist will explore some of these answers through her contribution to movies - the art of make believe - as well as her original artwork.

CSUN Cinematheque

Friday, December 2, 2016 7pm Armer Screening Room Manzanita Hall 100

An evening with Andrea Dopaso,

set designer, concept artist and illustrator American Beauty, Spider Man, Star Trek, Jungle Book

The artist will discuss her work with María Elena de las Carreras, CTVA professor. The Q&A will be illustrated with clips from these and other films in her twenty-year

career in Hollywood.

God Us and Them La Carga I I had the opportunity to meet Andrea at the Art Directors Guild panel held at the San Diego Comic Con this past July, and did a quick interview with her for an Argentine newspaper. She told me her career began when she designed the sets of Naked Tango, a 1990 US period thriller shot in Buenos Aires, directed by Leonard Schrader. With great sense of humor and warmth, Andrea described her adventures in Los Angeles as a newcomer with limited English skills, not afraid of working for free in movie sets. “The most important thing was to have a foot on the door and get in. Whatever you bring in experience – in my case as an architect – you can begin to apply once you are inside. The first step is the most complicated”.

The Armer Theater is located in 1st floor Manzanita Hall (MZ), on the southwest corner of the campus, 18111 Northridge, CA 91330. (The corner of Nordhoff St. & Darby Ave.) A permit is required to park on campus. Parking permits are available for purchase ($6) from automated machines in each lot, or from Information Booths located on Prairie St. on the west side of campus and Lindley Ave. on the south side of campus. The closest parking to the Armer Theater is in lots B1, B2, or the B3 parking structure.