The series of paintings portrayed are a representation of memories that live on from my life in Mexico. I was born in Mexico City and lived there seven years of my childhood. The objects that I most remember about that time are those portrayed here in their singularity. A nostalgic sentiment is captured and represented with each of these objects. Immortalizing these memories as if they were a ritual is a remedy to melancholy. Although these could be seen as novelty objects, they hold a certain authenticity in their own right, and will continue to linger their profound influence on my identity.
The series of paintings will continue indefinitely.
Oil on illustration board
20x30”
Huaraches was my very first painting in the series Homeland. I don’t remember exactly how it came about, but I do remember thinking that huaraches was a symbol of my Mexicaness. I had friends who wore them, I wore them. I wanted to immortalize them, make them relics and give them the respect they deserve.
Oil on illustration board
16x20”
I specifically remember a woman at the local market in Mexico City who had one of the largest molcajetes I’ve ever seen. She would use all the freshest ingredients from her produce stand and would make fresh guacamole and salsa on the spot. I remember eagerly waiting and watching her grind the ingredients in the molcajete. A crowd will gather around her. She sold it for just a few pesos per bag. She was the go-to woman, the guacamole queen. She and her molcajete were local celebrities.
Oil on illustration board
11x14”
This sweet bread was a staple in my grandparents home and in every other home I knew growing up in Mexico. I don’t know if there was ever a day in my grandparent’s house that a concha could not be found. To say that I didn’t, and till this day don’t like conchas is blasphemous.
Oil on illustration board
12x14”
As children my cousins and I entertained ourselves with just about anything we could find laying around, rubber bands, popsicle sticks and bottle caps. Tearing out a sheet of paper from our school notebook to make paper boats was what we did when it rained. In the city, the water leading to the sewer underneath the sidewalk was our river.
Oil on illustration board
8x10”
There was an old woman who lived a few doors away from mine that would sell candy on the street. She had a rolling cabinet she kept filled with candy. She would roll it out every afternoon on to the sidewalk along with a chair. We were overjoyed every time we saw her roll out her cabinet. We didn’t have much money but she had plenty of small tamarindo candy for just a few pesos each. That was all the fuel we needed to continue playing outside on the street. She was very old and I don’t remember ever knowing her name, but she brought joy to the neighborhood kids.
Oil on illustration board
20x16”
You can find this fun treat just about anywhere in Mexico city. Street vendors carry them by the dozens, neatly arranged on a long stick with holes to place the ends of the dowels. Vendors carry these long sticks with cotton candy all over the streets, pastel colors of fluffy clouds.
Oil on illustration board
30x20”
My mother had a puppet very similar to this one as a child. She passed on a few of her childhood toys to my sister and I. Maybe it was it’s big eyes or painted lips that seemed odd and perhaps even creepy, I was scared of it, and even at one point I believed it was possessed, I have no evidence nor sightings to prove that belief.
Oil on wood panel
24x47”
Oil on illustration board
20x15
Zapatitos is of a pair of old baby shoes. They belonged to my sister and I. These shoes are one of a handful of objects that my mother managed to preserve from our childhood. Our sudden move to the United State from Mexico City required that we leave everything behind and only bring whatever we could carry on our backs. What was left was everything we owned and a childhood full of memories.
Oil on illustration board
10x8”
This is a source image for my next painting. The painting will be in color as is the original photo.
Self-portrait (First photo for U.S. Visa application - Denied)
30x30”
Oil on panel
This was the first photo taken of me for the visa application to the U.S. The application was denied, as were several thereafter. I remember taking the long trips by bus and by foot to the consulate in Mexico City. My mother would instruct us to speak only when we were being asked a specific question. The only question I remember being asked was “What’s the reason for your visit to the U.S.?”. We would say we are going to Disneyland. In reality, we wanted to be reunited with my father, who was living in the U.S. legally and had no immediate plans to come back. This was just the beginning of our journey.
Drawing has been a meditative practice in my work. It has provided me with the opportunity to tune out the noise and reflect on detail and space, unconscious of time.
Pencil and charcoal on illustration board
8x10”
Ink on Kinwashi Paper
360 x 38”
In this piece, I practiced a method that allowed me to suspend my mind from everything that surrounds it by performing a ritual consisting of repetitive mark-making while creating an intuitive pattern. The repetitive movement becomes a meditating process. The finished product is a large drawing that consists of the same shape repeated in a variety of compositions that are completely random. The process taught me that a controlled mind can disappear when intuitiveness takes over.
https://www.otis.edu/painting/drawing-emphasis
I challenge my skills as a painter by attempting to portray objects convincingly with a special emphasis on texture. My subjects are not chosen necessarily by the significance of their existence, but primarily by the complexity of their visual physical appearance. In this series of paintings, I don’t choose my subjects by what they represent and how they relate to me or anyone else necessarily. Although I do consider their implication, I mostly look at individual objects that challenge my ability as a painter. I choose my object because I know it will be complicated, and I normally have no idea how to begin executing it. The objects are ordinary, yet when I take the time to look at their intricate construction they become distinctive and, in a way, humbly brilliant.
Oil on illustration board
8x10”
Oil on illustration board
20x15”
Oil on illustration board
7x20”
Oil on illustration board
8x10”
Oil on illustration board
10x8”
Oil on illustration board
8x10”
Watercolor on paper
12x8”
Oil on illustration board
8x10”
2019
Oil on wood panel
19x30”
2020
Oil on illustration board
8x10”
2020
Oil on illustration board
8x10”
2020
Oil on illustration board
10x8”
Oil on illustration
8x10”
While taking day trips and traveling across the country, I have seen a terrain that has captured all my senses with its allure and curiosities. I begun a visual journal of paintings that explore texture and color, while captivating a sense of solitude of the overwhelming territory before me. I attempt to portray the vulnerability of these places as well as my own within them. I have found tranquility in secluded lands that have helped me escape the constant noise of daily life.
Oil on illustration board
11 x 14”
Oil on illustration board
11 x 14”
Oil on illustration board
16x16”
Watercolor on paper
10x8”
Watercolor on paper
8x10"”
Watercolor on paper
3.5x5"”
Watercolor on paper
3.5x5”
Watercolor on paper
3.5x5”
Watercolor on paper
11x8”
Tempera on paper
11x8”
Tempera on paper
11x8”
Commissions are currently being accepted, please visit contact page.
Oil on clay board
18x24”
2011
Oil on illustration board
11x16”
2012
Oil on clay board
18x24”
2014
Oil on illustration board
10x7.5”
2018
Oil on wooden box
4x3x3”
2012
Oil on canvas
24x16”
2015
Temporary pedestal for City of Raleigh on Hillsborough Street
Acrylic on wood
16x16”x4’
2018
Acrylic on wood
8x14.5”
2020
Oil on illustration board
14x14”
2020
