Somos de la Tierra
Somos de la tierra ( We are of the Earth) is a series of portraits and figurative paintings accented with ceramic frames that personify the internal dialogue of race, culture, and sexuality. The relationship in pairing large-scale paintings with ceramic components amplifies the narrative suggested through titles and expressed through the combination of the materials. Magic Realism manifests in the melancholic paintings of people and fantastical characters in desert scenes to understand and represent these aspects of cultural, sexual, and racial identity as a Mexican-American. I paint people I know as part of the subject matter to extend portraits of myself in applying cultural values and expanding on sexual and racial identity. I play with memory and personal experience to address customs, beliefs, and languages growing up between the United States and Mexico—the visual lexicon of Aztec indexical signs of duality and transformation explore the Mexican-Americans’ dualism.
Title: Desenterando plumas y huesos. (Unearthing Feathers and Bones.)
Dimensions: 49 ¾” x 65 ¼”
Materials: Oil on panel with Ceramic Red Earthenware Frame.
Date: 2024
Title: Tu puedes ser un coyote, mi hijo. (You Can Be a Coyote, My Son.)
Dimensions: 31 ¼” x 55”
Materials: Oil on panel with Ceramic Red Earthenware Frame
Date: 2023
Title: De otros colores, seya la media naranja. (Of Other Colors, Be the Better Half.)
Dimensions: 29” x 19 ⅛”
Materials: Oil on panel with Ceramic Red Earthenware Frame
Date: 2023
Title: Maricon. (Faggot.)
Dimensions: 51” x 62”
Materials: Oil on canvas with Ceramic Red Earthenware Frame and kitchen curtains.
Date: 2023
Title: Somos de la tierra. (We are of the Earth.)
Dimensions: 176 sq ft.
Materials: Ceramic cylinders and desert soil.
Date: 2024
