My interests in the Analysis of man, and of the things and situations that surround us, emerged from an early age and have been increasing over time.
Painting is the means of expression by which I keep in touch with the outside world.
The fusion of contemporary techniques in painting has led me to express my innermost humanity and “my identity”. Within my cultural heritage and my participation in a specific society, I seek to provoke a sense of authenticity in the complexity or simplicity of each person or social group.
Since my project of 2005, I have represented the emotional and psychological state of personalities experiencing marginalization acceptance, and the feeling of being part of and not part of society.
In the Project “CHOLOS: Mexican Border Identity” I have as main goal to document the identity of Cholo. The cholo subculture grew out of the pachuco movement, which developed as a result of the racial discrimination that existed against Mexicans on US soil in the 1940s. As social groups made up of young migrants seeking to create their own lifestyle, the cholos and their antecedents the pachucos developed their own unique styles of dress, language, and expression.
The porpuse of this project is to present pictures of people that belong to the subculture of the cholos, also known in the United States as “Latin gangs”. Their ways of dressing and talking express a strong resistance to the dominant American culture. The practical clothing they use, their handkerchiefs, tattoos, and all their attire, allow them to identify themselves and at the same time to define the origin of their neighborhood gang. They have many other ornaments that characterize them, such as the famous lowrider automobiles that they alter to showcase their pride and display their attitude next to other neighborhood gangs.
These contemporary portrayals show the influence of the seventeenth-century Baroque style, which creates a clash, tension, and contradiction in the meaning of the portraits.
Within the Baroque style, portraits typically depicted the wealthy bourgeoisie, and artists were concerned to highlight elements of dress and ornamentation that indicated the sitters´ high social class. Hence the deliberate contradiction of utilizing a Baroque manner to portray members of the cholo subculture, since they are and have been treated with discrimination by the society in which we live. And additional element of this series is my incorporation of fantastic animals and stenciled images, which serve as symbols representing the clash of cultures.
