Artist Statement / Ideas in the work
Oil / Watercolor Painting:
My current oil and watercolor work consists of patterned imagery. I build up my subject matter by laying decorative designs [drawn from materials and patterns found in the decorative arts] over rhythmic and gestural patterns. The work reflects my interest in Islamic art, the decorative arts, and the search for the “ideal beauty” in the age of surplus information.
I develop these pieces by accumulating tens of layers. Substrates for the oil pieces are rigid surfaces, usually wooden panels, coated with dry gesso, which yields a smooth, luminous surface. Veils of paint are layered on top in an obsessive and ritualistic process. The process interweaves materials and methods generating an ethereal and atmospheric translucency.
The Mexico Interlude; woodcuts / sculpture / installation:
After graduate school in New York, I retuned to Mexico for a 3-year period of time. During this time I was able to produce a significant body of work all of which was heavily influenced by the local culture and the landscape. The re-encounter was powerful, and produced in me an intense gut reaction evident in the choice of materials and subject matter for this series of works.
Installation:
Some of my early installations were informed by art theory and the contemporary art discourse. I was particularly interested in the notion of the “other” and its representation.
Oil / Watercolor Painting:
My current oil and watercolor work consists of patterned imagery. I build up my subject matter by laying decorative designs [drawn from materials and patterns found in the decorative arts] over rhythmic and gestural patterns. The work reflects my interest in Islamic art, the decorative arts, and the search for the “ideal beauty” in the age of surplus information.
I develop these pieces by accumulating tens of layers. Substrates for the oil pieces are rigid surfaces, usually wooden panels, coated with dry gesso, which yields a smooth, luminous surface. Veils of paint are layered on top in an obsessive and ritualistic process. The process interweaves materials and methods generating an ethereal and atmospheric translucency.
The Mexico Interlude; woodcuts / sculpture / installation:
After graduate school in New York, I retuned to Mexico for a 3-year period of time. During this time I was able to produce a significant body of work all of which was heavily influenced by the local culture and the landscape. The re-encounter was powerful, and produced in me an intense gut reaction evident in the choice of materials and subject matter for this series of works.
Installation:
Some of my early installations were informed by art theory and the contemporary art discourse. I was particularly interested in the notion of the “other” and its representation.
