The Fall 2020 BFA Exhibition

Letters are the basic elements we use for everyday communication. Buildings are the most common places where we make casual communications happen. I would like to combine the two kinds of communication symbols into a visual display unit. That is how the constructions are designed to be built by the shapes of the specific alphabet letters in “Built into Letter”. With its own apparent beauty each letter works as a perfect foundation for constructing a building with aesthetic value. Moreover, letters deliver a sense of integrity and harmony to the viewers with the visual presentation of a single outstanding unit which is very familiar to them. And here inside the surface of the symbolic communication element, the residents and the passengers of the buildings can find some cozy and functional spaces for intimate communications among them.

El baile hip hop es un estilo de danza con raíces históricas profundas y sociales en la cultura afroamericana. Hip hop se inventó en Nueva York en los años 70 por la juventud afroamericana y latina (grupos minoritarios) para escapar la lucha en contra de las drogas, el crimen, la pobreza, y la violencia de pandillas, etc. Ser Dj, ser el maestro de ceremonias, bailar break dance, grafiti, y el conocimiento se volvieron los elementos de hip hop. Estos elementos conducieron al la cultura que les permitió a las personas la libertad de ser lo que sentían era bueno para ellos. Hip hop le dio a la juventud la motivación de vivir una vida mejor.

En términos filosóficos, “hip” significa “conocimiento” y “hop” significa “movimiento”. Hip hop significa “conocimiento en movimiento.”

Mis pinturas son en el estilo y escala de la pintura tradicional occidental para elevar el estatus de hip hop colocándolo dentro de la trayectoria que se reservó históricamente principalmente para los hombres blancos y la clase rica. El estatus de hip hop se eleva y celebra la cultura fundada por la juventud  afroamericana y latina subrepresentada. Mi trabajo representa a la juventud bailando hip hop enfrente de los edificios empresariales de america corporativa. Los breakdancers son dinámicos, variables y poderosos en contraste a los edificios fríos y estáticos en el fondo. Las poses dinámicas le dan la voluntad al a juventud subrepresentada y les permite tener el control y poder que ellos de otra manera no tendrían en la america corporativa.

Hip Hop dance is a style of dance with deep historical and social roots in African American culture. Hip Hop was invented in New York in the 70’s by African American and Latino youth (minority groups) to escape the struggle of drugs, crime, poverty, gang violence, etc. Deejaying, emceeing, breaking, graffiti, and knowledge become the elements of Hip Hop. These elements led to a culture that allowed people the freedom to be what felt right to them. Hip Hop gave youth the motivation to live a better life.

In philosophical terms, “Hip” means knowledge and “hop” means movement. Hip Hop means “knowledge in movement.”

My paintings are in the style and scale of western traditional painting to elevate the status of Hip Hop by placing it within the trajectory that was historically reserved for mostly white males and the wealthy class. The status of Hip Hop is elevated and celebrates the culture founded by underrepresented African American and Latinx youth. My work portrays youth performing Hip Hop dance in front of corporate America’s business buildings. The breakdancers are dynamic, fluid and powerful in contrast to the static and cold buildings in the background. The dynamic poses give agency to underrepresented youth and allows them to have the control and power they would not otherwise have in corporate America.

My entire life has been a cultural struggle. Finding out who I am as an artist has taken one major thing, time. This work is a combination of a life-lifelong journey of finding my identity as an artist. I thought of making a conventional painting on stretched canvas and realized that I could not. Pallets are cheap, common, and disposable. I spent far too many years of my life thinking the same thing about myself as a Mexican-American. The current political climate and commercialization of Mexican food, designs, and celebrations made me feel that America wanted our culture and not us.

My inspiration is drawn from my family, my heritage, and my resilient sense of pride. I placed my emotions in my paint strokes on top of these pallets. Pallets are commonly used to store, protect, and transport materials. Much like these pallets, I store the traditions I was blessed by from my family in my heart. I protect the stories of the people who brought my parents from Mexico. I transport the love I was blessed with. Ni de aqui, ni de alla..but here to stay. This painting is me.

Emptiness serves as a vessel for all else to be created. Stillness contains within it, infinite potential. And once this pulse of life begins, it echoes further than we may ever comprehend.

Life, Prevailing looks towards the seen and unseen, the named and unnamable complementary forces which exist in every facet of our lives. What may first appear as independent, exists instead through a vast network of continuous and ever changing parts. These relationships may be invisible to the untrained eye, but expand into scope through acts of deep observation- The deeper you look, the more is revealed.

The paintings begin as a dialogue with the subject, but soon respond more immediately to the marks and the hand that makes them. The hand acts through intention, but bends to that which it cannot immediately see. A relationship is created between rationality and abstraction, a dance between intention and mystery. The work exists both as a meditation on the present moment, and a reflection of time already passed.

My intent for this body of work was to explore the juxtaposition inherent in the nature of growth. I think of growth as an inevitable transition through the stages of life, and the way the challenges that we face almost always bring prosperity. Through these awkward, occasional burdensome times, there is a constant need to adjust, adapt, and overcome certain situations and surroundings. This perseverance and transformation exists within us and around us. These forms reflect the imperfect process of growth, sometimes organic, sometimes rhythmic, and sometimes unpredictable. These amphoric, volumetric forms serve as a representation of the infinite possibilities contained within ourselves. The dissonance and peace that coexist inside of us and on our surface, and the patience that leads to understanding the process of becoming.