Sun Stone Man: Latination 5

This September Metro Galleries had another installment of it's Lationation event: Cinco De Lationation, curated by Don Martin. It is a time to artists to create works that reflect Latin heritage.

My entry to this group show was a statue of a head that I call Sun Stone Man.

The front is the face of is a figure from the center of the Aztec sun stone, the sun god, Tonatuh. I continued the design from the sun stone around to the back.

Front

In the center of the back, instead of having the sun god again, I used a figure that is Mayan to represent the mixing of cultures. No one of Latin heritage is completely from one tribe, we are all products of the melting-pot.

Back

Latination 5 will be on display for the month of September at Metro Galleries, Bakersfield.

For Further Reading:

Metro Galleries

Watch: Aztec Sun Stone

Aztec Calendar

Aztec vs. Maya Calendar

Hypatia: Free Thinker News

For a commission I made a logo for a site called Free Thinker News. The client wanted a logo that had a woman thinking, that referenced Rodin's The Thinker. 

After seeing the finished piece, we decided to call this woman Hypatia. Hypatia was an Egyptian philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. 

Hypatia

This was a good change of pace getting to use Adobe Illustrator. :)

For Further Reading:

FreeThinkerNews

Rodin Thinker

Hypatia, Smithsonian

Your Little Dog Too

The Empty Space invited me to participate in an invitation only group art exhibit titled Yellow Brick Road, a tribute to the Wizard of Oz. It was curated by Jesus Fidel and Christina Sweet. Fifteen artists were in the exhibit and it was up for the month of May, 2013.

"Your Little Dog Too"

For the exhibit each artist was given a character from the Wizard of Oz to create from. I was given Toto. I painted Toto sitting in a basket in the poppy field. The road is not too far away.

For Further Reading:

Yellow Brick Road, Bakersfield Californian

Ease On Down the Road

Begin Begin Begin pt.4

Recap: The past two quarters I participated in senior seminar class at Cal State Bakersfield. I created four new paintings for this exhibit. They were four five toot by four foot each, the largest I have ever painted. Working from concept to completion took a lot of gesso, many late nights, nearly all my paint for about five months.

 This body of work is history paintings, just as many artists have made. History is being made every day. The chalkboard represents an ever-changing history. The media takes information about people and events and filters into a perverse scandalized story that time goes on. As history is being written, all of these issues can be gets added to the chalkboard. Things get erased or added as revised, or even erased, based on who is telling the story.

For politicians of the highest levels, foreign affairs are paramount to success. President Ronald Reagan had a close relationship with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Reagan was quoted “It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.”


For Further Reading:
Todd Madigan Gallery
Begin Begin Begin pt.1
Begin Begin Begin pt.2
Begin Begin Begin pt.3
Friendship
BBC: Thatcher Hisotry
theWhiteHouse: Reagan History

Begin Begin Begin pt.3

Recap: The past two quarters I participated in senior seminar class at Cal State Bakersfield. I created four new paintings for this exhibit. They were four five toot by four foot each, the largest I have ever painted. Working from concept to completion took a lot of gesso, many late nights, nearly all my paint for about five months.

 This body of work is history paintings, just as many artists have made. History is being made every day. The chalkboard represents an ever-changing history. The media takes information about people and events and filters into a perverse scandalized story that time goes on. As history is being written, all of these issues can be gets added to the chalkboard. Things get erased or added as revised, or even erased, based on who is telling the story.

Those who run for public office, such as the presidency, gain tons of media coverage, but whoever wins the race essentially gets more coverage in the history books. On the chalkboard that is history, this story might fade to the back. During a debate between president Obama and Mitt Romney, Mitt describes how he finds women to make a diverse cabinet, “we went to a number of women’s groups… and they brought us binders full of women.” 

*The beauty of painting is imagination.

For Further Reading:
Todd Madigan Gallery
Begin Begin Begin pt.1
Begin Begin Begin pt.2

Debate clip

Awkward Phrase

Binders meme