SHOW STATEMENT:

The images I’m painting are inspired by the stories I’ve heard growing up about my father, his family, and their life as immigrants from Mexico. This is a show about my perspective of being a 2nd-generation Mexican American – what it means to hold ties to so much culture and history and yet only know my heritage second-hand while growing up in a white forward city. Depicting memories and stories through watercolor and oil paints I weave in my own visual perspective, adding bold color and pattern as a juxtaposition to my father’s black and white stories of poverty, hardship, and commitment to family and faith. This series of paintings will be both joyful and somber, colorful and achromatic. Just as his stories and my heritage play out in my head.