Dreamscape
Acrylic On Canvas
2021-20222
Growing up as a military child, I knew that being comfortable was temporary. Moving from place to place across the United States challenged my idea of home and belonging; inhabiting completely different cities, communities, and places of being. As a result, I had to evolve, eventually being comfortable with an unknown community.
However, one thing that has not changed is the liminal American suburbia. Copy and paste landscapes connected by cul-de-sacs, roundabouts, and white picket fences. Each space of travel connects to the strangely familiar yet somewhat unknowable ways of feeling. By repeatedly surrounding myself with these vague landscapes, my art explores and wonders at the idea of the strange and uncanny.
Sketches
I have experienced the dual consciousness and connection of having multiple “homes,” not only in the United States but also my native and ancestral land that is Puerto Rico. Born in the U.S., I have always had the perspective of not fully belonging, due to the cultural disconnect. A territorial land but not a state. A space of inclusion, but not belonging with. It is the liminal spaces of ambiguity and familiarity. Due to this experience and discovery, I feel attached to the strangely familiar as well as the idea of belonging within my art.
Painted on canvas and wooden panels, my artwork tackles those themes, encapsulating the bizarre world of forgotten spaces and nostalgia. Like a portrait, each landscape has their own distinct characters, creating a space with shared emotion and experiences. With this, my process for creative work focuses on color, form, and perspective of which reflects the abject and the surreal nature of said spaces. Throughout my work, I want to challenge the viewer in ways of seeing, asking the question “Have I been there before?” within the unknowable and the strangely familiar landscapes we may inhabit. As we try to find a place of being, where do we belong?