Statement
I am a visual artist, and fronterizo, living and working in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
Within my interests in art, there remains a curiosity to understand the place where I live from different perspectives: the desert, the border, the city, my home, or my neighborhood. I consider myself an inhabitant, sharing space with different groups, and by considering their experiences, I can better understand this place and myself.
I choose painting as my medium because it is a very noble discipline that allows me to physically engage with the piece and create images that serve as an aesthetic record of my experience in this place. I am interested in finding the sense of the insertion of painting into a contemporary panorama and continuing to connect it with references to art history to establish a dialogue. At the same time, I seek for my work to serve as an identity archive of what exists in my environment.
Previous Projects
In general, painting through series allows me to group ideas and play with the figures, shapes, characters, and scenarios of my daily life.
My undergraduate art thesis project, as well as my final exhibition "Second Hand, Second Home," deal with how my family merges work, the street, and home, being merchants of second-hand products brought from the United States. In "Oasis, the house of no one," I paint my aesthetic experience of living in an industrial subdivision called Oasis, in the southern part of the desert of Ciudad Juárez. "Samalayuca Boys" is a series that portrays my friends and family during escapes from the city to the dunes of the Samalayuca desert.
Proposal
Representing the figure of the "chambelán" is the latest project I have been working on. Chambelanes are escorts of quinceañeras, who are often family or friends and dance in choreographies to symbolize the passage from girlhood to womanhood of the birthday girl. For me, the event and choreographies of quinceañeras also serve for young male children and adolescents to emulate the behavior of what a man should be, according to Latin American macho culture. In my paintings, I seek to portray the choreographies of the chambelanes, as well as the costumes, colors, limousines, stages, swords, and other icons that construct the accompanying ritual and at the same time the representation of the change from children to adults.
My goal for this residency is to connect with a studio or group of chambelanes in NY and attend a rehearsal to paint them. I want to talk to them about their profession, their personal history, and their opinion on the ritual of quinceañeras as a Latin American tradition. I know that in New York CityNY there is a large presence of Latinos, and I would take advantage of it to continue researching the variations that exist in quinceañera celebrations, as well as in the cultural ideals of contemporary man. The opportunity of this residency would help expose a ritual belonging to Latin culture, in addition to sharing the images that identify my culture internationally.
On a more personal level, this experience would help me continue exhibiting my work throughout the United States and connecting with the art scene here, which is an invaluable opportunity for an artist from the northern border of Mexico to continue working.