La Cultura Mexicana

Currently I have been working with linoleum printing. I really the love the utility and simplicity of the medium. To be able to draw an image then to have to carve it out is very tactile. I love this medium because you have to keep working at the image in order to get the right print. Everything is printed backwards and you have to subtract white spaces and leave the black spaces. Its quite fun and meticulous on the same hand.

This series of prints have been influenced by my almost two years of living here in Mexico City. I am constantly in awe of amazement with the culture that I am surrounded by. Everyday here is like an improvisational theatre show. Please come visit me if you have time and a sense of adventure.

The first print i made was "El Gallo" a common representation of the early riser and of farm life. The second print I made was the "Laugh now...Die Later" This idea of enjoying life now and in the moment is what my experience here in MX has been like. The people really do enjoy what they have & what they do. The third installment of these pieces was "El Corazón" which is Spanish for heart. For me, people live here with a lot of heart & soul. Therefore, I wanted to place emphasis on this image. Lastly, I created a piece entitled "Hijos de Maiz" which is a common saying and is something that a friend told me. The saying comes from the Mayans who believed they were descendants of the corn God and that they were grown from the land.

El Gallo 

Laugh Now...Die Later 

El Corazón

Hijos de Maiz

La Batalla de La Vida y La Muerte = The Battle between Life and Death

This series was made back in winter 2013 & I had a lot of success in selling most of them in San Francisco at The Incline Gallery. If you don't know about this gallery please do yourself a favor & check them out. 

The goal of this series was to capture the day to day battle we have with life and death. Constantly we are losing & growing new cells everyday. We often fight with ourselves, each other, and other existential crises in our short span of life. Therefore the imagery was meant to evoke this feeling of the fight between Life and Death. Unfortunately, there are no more pieces of this series. Though I am in a current process of making a similar series. Check back soon. Enjoy!

The Ex's Series

It has been way too long since I have posted. I have created way too many series of work since that time. Therefore I am sharing with you one of the latest series I painted back during Sep - Nov 2014. This series is about ex-partners and the memories that we hold of these people who have come to pass. The idea came from my own experiences with heart-break. Perhaps this series was a  way for me to clear my head & make sense of the loss.

I want to explain a bit of the symbology that I have placed in the paintings so as to clarify any doubts or questions. First, I describe the red lines through the women´s eyes, which signify that with some ex-partners, the pain becomes unbearable to see the sight of them. As a result there is a a distancing process that happens and the crossing out of the eyes is the way to create that distance & ambiguity. Secondly, the rosy cheeks signify that these were once happy moments with these ex-partners and yet, the dripping signifies that those moments are changing. Lastly, the models that I chose to paint are actually vintage models. Therefore the idea of vintage signifies that these moments were also vintage which are captured in your mind and are forever changing.
I hope you enjoy this series as much as I did.