Elijah Vasquez
Elijah Vasquez - Curatorial Rationale
I firmly believe that violence is a human invention. It is not something we intended to create, but did naturally by being ourselves. Human nature is a very special topic for me because I think studying it can help us understand many things about ourselves, each other, and history. Violence is only one characteristic of human nature, but it is certainly not the only one. My theme is particularly difficult to define even after I have been exploring it for almost two years.
I will first talk about Jambi because I think it is the least violent piece and that is what I intended it to be. Jambi was a project I did on my own over the summer of 2020. As tradition for my style, I sort of just made up ideas as I went along and I came up with it. The figure in the piece has the gay pride flag as not only positive symbolism, but also as a reference to how we are all different, but come from the same process and mode of creation. The other two portraits (Self portrait and Dead Girl) are great examples of my style I feel like, because I find lots of enjoyment in creating them. Both have their connections to violence. The self portrait reverences self harm which is indeed violent, but also is an exclusivity to human nature. Dead girl is exactly what it sounds like. However I also explore the the idea of beauty in death as the girl is supposed to be portrayed as pretty.
The 3 most blatantly violent pieces of mine are most definitely Stephanie, Witch Hunt Ended and my clay sculpture. Stephanie is quite literally covered in symbols of violence and has an intimidating look to her. The shoes I made are in reference to a middle age witch hunt against a little girl. I combined ideas of innocence and gore to real life inspiration from the idea of the cement shoes which were a confirmed torture tactic on convicted witches. Lastly, earlier this year, I took a ceramics class where I learned the basics of clay craftsmanship. I combined my theme with ideas of ancient Aztec culture to create the basis of my sculptures I made in this class. The one I have previewed is a gross sculpture of a strange totem or talisman that is made up of a severed human like head with its brain exposed.
Stephanie (A Dose of Anarchy) (October of 2020)
Mannequin with mixed media (finger paint, human clothes, Lego gun)
69 inches tall
This piece is the piece most directly tied to my theme of human nature. I started this project by taking a mannequin, and just ruining it as much as I could. I caked it in black paint, gave it ripped stockings, and stabbed it with a kitchen knife. I wanted to create the idea of this mannequin representing anarchy and violence by giving it a fake shotgun, covering in black blood, dressing a sleeveless denim battle jacket, and put a plague doctor gas mask. I also explored the concept of distinguished violence towards women. The ripped stockings could represent this depending on how you view the piece. But most importantly, I put black handprints on areas of the mannequin that are clearly private.
Personal Portrait (October 11th 2019)
Oil Pastel
10 x 15 inches
The concept of this one is simple. I was going through a rough time in my life when this was being made, so I filled my own portrait with negative, dead energy. I portray myself as a Day of The Dead sugar skull because I am really into that style of art and culture. The expression on my face is tired and empty to partially symbolize the effect depression has on the mind and character. I am surrounded in grey void of darkness decorated with red slashes which are a direct reference to my age of self harm.
Dead Girl (Unknown)
Graphite and Charcoal Pencil / Digital Art (Minecraft Blocks)
8 x 12 in / 20 x 18 in
This was one of my first pieces ever. It is also pretty simple but that is why it is one of my personal favorites. It is a drawing of a Mexican sugar skull girl. This was not on my mind while I was creating the piece, but I have noticed that one could create the connection between beauty and death. This could possibly connect to my theme if you look at it through the lens of a crazy violent person who is obsessed with death which could connect to human nature a little bit. I have also noticed that the look on the girls face is a bit dull and primitive, almost animalistic, which is yet another trope of my theme. Also you might notice that there is two versions of this piece. That is because I did some experimenting and remade this exact piece but in Minecraft. Minecraft is a video game where you are in a pixelated 3D world. You can do pretty much what ever you want in it, but the game has a creative mode where you can build things. I took this idea and made a giant replica of my drawing but in game and colorized. This is a screenshot from the game after it was finished.
Witch Hunt Ended (March 3rd 2020)
Old shoes with broken glass, paint, sand, and fake grass
6 x 2 x 9 inches
I built this entire piece off of the idea of the medieval witch hunts, but put an even more morbid twist on it. I mixed several different tropes of a witch hunt. First, I painted the shoes a light grey color to express the concept of cement shoes which were a common method of execution for convicted witches. This ties with the sand and seaweed I adhered to the shoes to give the idea that they have been at the bottom of a body of water for an extended period of time. The red stained glass shards are there to create a more gruesome image to symbolize the torture and torment of a convicted witch. Lastly, I tied a hair bow and ring on the shoes in reference to the fact that many of these ¨witches¨ were young girls.
Jambi (July 23rd 2021)
Acrylic paint
10 x 10 in
This piece was something I did on my own time. I wanted to experiment with a few general themes. This piece is the one that is least tied to my theme of human nature and violence. The two main themes with this piece is contrast, and the three primary colors. The contrast can be seen towards the bottom, where I mixed up the colors of each gender, and towards the top where I connected the Swastika with the peace symbol. However depending on how you look at it, that could also be the Buddhist symbol for peace which was my intended point of that symbol. I also put the gay pride flag as the background for both color, and more positive symbolism.
Gore Sculpture (January 2021)
Ceramic clay
2 x 4 x 4 in
This sculpture was a creation I made in my ceramics and sculpture class. The motif of the project was juxtaposition with human figures and I saw this as a great opportunity to make a sculpture that connected to my theme. The piece is really just supposed to be very gory and unsettling with not a ton of symbolism. However, with all of the sculptures I made in my class, I had old Aztec and Pagen artistry and culture in mind for some of the visuals.
