Alberto Estrella Chirivella

A Journey Through Masks

The main concept is that this exhibition is all about masks. Masks play an important role in society believe it or not. Before Covid-19 and this modern society emerged, masks were created for celebrations, ceremonies, or for warfare. However, with the emergence of the pandemic, masks have been synonymous with the pandemic itself and the safety of oneself. Furthermore, what I would like to achieve with this concept is to remind people what masks use to symbolize; such as happiness, celebrations, war, death, life, etc… 

There has been one profound experience that drove me into making this exhibition. That experience would be the entirety of the covid lockdown and pandemic overall. This greatly affected me since I have family members who, in the early stages of the pandemic, suffered much from the side effects. Although the pandemic has brought much suffering, it has gifted me new perspectives about my life and has made me develop new skills to adapt to this new world that we live in.

There were two artists that greatly influenced me, being Carlos Davila Rinaldi and Vincent Van Gogh. Mr. Rinaldi greatly influenced me through the abstract nature of his artworks and his messages about the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, instead of inspiring to work on the Covid-19 subject, I was inspired by Van Gogh's painting style which I tried to implement in my paintings as best as I could, and the hidden meanings that an artwork can contain. 

In all of my artworks, there has been a single material that I have been consistently using, acrylic paint. I use acrylic paint since it's the most accessible material and the easiest to use. Acrylic paints allow me to become more expressive and unleash my creativity onto a canvas and create artworks that I am proud of. Acrylic paint has been an incredibly useful material in accomplishing my artworks and is indispensable for me.  

The artworks that I made have differentiating levels of personal significance for me. Some of my artworks such as ‘bandages, masks, and personal struggles’ have direct connections to my culture and life. Whilst some have more deep and indirect connections such as ‘Chemical Protocol’ which presents the use of the chemical agent known as ‘Agent Orange. Then there are artworks with less personal significance such as the ‘Bubonic Dread’ which was created to present the historical significance that diseases have played in human history. 

When it was time to arrange my artwork I decided on showing the artworks that I was most proud of first. The masks would be first and would be split between the first and second walls. Then the pictures artwork would take the majority of the third wall with the portraits beneath it. Finally, on the fourth wall, the remaining portraits would be placed there. 

The overall vision for my exhibition is to educate the viewer on what role masks play in our modern society and cultures around the globe, especially now with Covid-19 still occurring around the world. Also, I wanted to present to viewers different time periods and different cultures with my artworks to show that masks have been alongside humans nearly since the beginning of the human race.

The manner in which my artworks are displayed is meant to best present the theme of my exhibition. I like to think that the variety of colors that each artwork has plays with how they are displayed grabs the attention of the viewer.