I happened to witness a hot air balloon festival in Lewiston, Maine. I took the initiative to get in on the action and I am happy with some of the images.
Sorry to be late with my Sunday Stills post, I have been preparing myself for my new job at Bates College as an Admission Counselor.
Thanks for visiting!
This is my return to Sunday Still. It has been a while. Last year was filled with many obstacles and endeavors, from completing two huge projects that have defined my college experience, my Studio Art Thesis (The post below this one) and my Russian Studies Thesis about the perceptions of wolves in Russia. I also gained a huge amount of experience as an Admissions Fellow through interviewing prospective students and giving information sessions about Bates.
It was a jam packed year, but one that gave me valuable experience and knowledge for the future. I did an immense amount of networking both in the outside world and Bates.
I graduated this past Sunday and had my folks up for the first time at Bates. They did some site seeing in Portland, Maine. This is where this collection of photos is from.
I am sorry for my absence, but I hope these photos make up for it. But also I hope my thesis work does too; it was a year of hard work and lots of growth artistically.
Thanks for visiting!
Artist Statement:
I have never developed a photo in a darkroom. I was raised in the era of digital photography and feel like the process of taking a photo, uploading it, and making quick changes in Photoshop is unsatisfying because I have been drawing for a long time and think of drawing as a more active and physical process. I want to find the satisfaction I get from drawing in my photographic process, so I have spent the last few years experimenting with ways to combine photography and drawing.
I begin by drawing on a transparency that I place over my printed photo. The drawing emerges as a reaction to the photo, the pose, and my relationships with my models. I eventually scan the transparency so I can superimpose the line drawing onto the photograph using Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
Shortly after I began this work, I discovered the artist Dr. Lakra, a Mexican tattooist who superimposes tattoo designs on found objects. Ideas from his work inevitably trickled into my thesis. My drawings are much different than his; I am influenced by indigenous art forms from Mexico, Central, and South America that I render in a contemporary way, that borders between tattooing and graffiti.
This work has been driven by my search for a meaningful balance between these media as well as my need to stay true to my subject matter. I am interested in documentary photography, so it is important for these images to remain realistic. I see the photographs as documents, and the drawings add another layer of interpretation. Rather than including text to describe my work, I hope my drawings suggest ideas that might otherwise be explained through text.
I am aiming to explore the identity of Latinos without offending or misrepresenting them. These images show pride—an element I see missing in the popular portrayals of Latinos. The current anti-immigrant climate in the U.S. can complicate the question of pride for Hispanics. But I also hope this work speaks beyond the issue of immigration.
I don’t usually shoot panoramas, but this was a favor for a friend
If you’re in the area, please drop by. I promise the show will be worth it. We have a range of talents, specialties, media, themes.
Trust me it will be good. If you are wondering what I have been up to for the past year art-wise, this is the time to find out. Otherwise if you have tuned into my blog you have seen teasers of what I have been doing. Once the show goes up I will put up my artist statement and the rest of the work will slowly be posted on the site.
Bates did a great job of making a teaser for the show that gives a brief description of my work:
Gonzalez combines his love of two media by drawing on a transparency that he superimposes on a photo he has taken. While his work taps indigenous art from Mexico, Central and South America, he has also been influenced by the Mexican tattoo artist Dr. Lakra. “I aim to explore the identity of Latinos without offending or misrepresenting them,” he says. “These images show pride — an element I see missing in popular portrayals of Latinos.”
These photos feature students of latino or Hispanic decent, what ever one wants to call it. The intention behind the work is to illustrate provocative images with provocative drawings that illustrate tribal or indigenous influenced designs representing images or symbols I grew up around or things relevant to my culture. I am using images to influence my drawings, it is not a direct representation of lets say Mayan, Aztec, or Inca art. The point of the drawing is to stamp the missing part of the definition of a Latino or a Hispanic, the indigenous part of our history. Something that we should be proud of, and I want these images to illustrate a history and the pride we have even in this anti-immigrant climate.
