Commissions, shows and press
email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
phone: (415) 814-5894
In the late 70s, my family and I migrated to Miami, Florida from São Paulo, Brazil. We arrived in the United States without the proper documentation, left to work in our own financial crisis. In addition to rigorous factory work, my grandfather raised money as he introduced me to a game called “treasure” hunt as a child. The hunting was Dumpster diving, and renewed trash was sold for the treasure of cash. Also my family and I had another obstacle aside from working, this was the language barrier we encountered. It was an absolute necessity to simultaneously learn duel languages both English and Cuban Spanish in order to maintain a livelihood, and just as important was to uphold our Brazilian roots within our domain.
I later moved to the Bay Area to study fine arts at the San Francisco Art Institute. After crisscrossing the country a few times, including a stint in rural and conservative Georgia. I was then drawn to move back into Bay Area. I’ve embraced the idea of rootlessness and the yearning to travel, and the vision of moving to a new place to seek a better life. A feeling that drives many optimistic Americans.
My work can be characterized within numerous realms; most importantly I’m compelled to examine themes of time, history, and language through the exploration of non-traditional mediums that are in constant flux. I want to make time an intentional element of my work by it’s observable physical change when using volatile materials such as lard, sod, chewing gum and egg shells.
Also the idea of displacement is stitched into my use of fabric when attached onto recycled goods that derived from foreclosed homes in which was left behind by distressed Americans. I’m interested in the appropriation as an approach by creating art that connects both the past and present by changing the meaning and function of those objects. With in specific works the use of fabric can be read by the weight distribution of camouflage and blue linen; and how the war weighs heavily on America.
Within my work there is utilization with pastiche of past images from the Americana ideology and culture. When superimposing these images I would like the viewer to revisit history, by mentally collapsing time; when the past becomes vividly present again, it brings the present time in light of a new context.
In addition to iconography, the use of verbal imagery as metaphors is a theme derived from the language barrier I encountered. The multiple languages aroused a special interest in linguistics, and the creative approaches in human communication. I’m interested emphasizing how language in cultures functions as a tool of power and how it can harvest range meanings when applied in different contexts.
Within my works you will notice an on going theme that derived from growing up in and amongst Cuban-Americans’, social criticism of Fidel Castro’s Communist regime. It gave me an appreciation of our ability to freely critique current events. I don’t consider myself a “political” artist, I do want the viewer to question modern social ideologies. Living in Snellville Georgia helped heightened my awareness of the common essentialism or the stereotyped notions, and how culturally dominant languages have reinforced patriarchal systems of authority and has an enormous influence on social and cultural identities presented within our western American society. In being aware of tensions do to class and cultural demographics, I’ve incorporated a semiotic approach within my sculptures, while I aesthetically aim for elegance and symmetry by embracing the methodical placement of these symbols such as day laborers, Uncle Sam, the stock market grid and materials that are commonly used in the “service” industry; for example the caution sign, burlap, and concrete which develops a language that conveys the dynamics between white- and blue-collar workers.
As an artist I’m purposely not labeling my self with in a specific genres, although I always approach my work ascetically as a painter. I’m more interested in transforming materials to create metaphors and caricatures by blending realism and satire to depict my subject mater, and appealing to the viewer’s inner child by maintaining the playfulness and irony within my art.
My body of work has evolved through my exploration several mediums, which included performances, sculptures, paintings, printmaking, photography and installations.
Simultaneously I’ve been working on a series called Intertwining Kingdoms. In this series I’m aiming to stimulate and facilitate the viewer to explore their subconscious, by immersing them in an “abstract” fantasy erotic space that consists of free-flowing lines referencing a dimension, or a parallel universe that’s mentally “coinciding” within our realm of time. I’m aesthetically referencing microscopic organic forms that have identities in and of themselves. These “identities” or “organisms “ resemble individuals from the atmosphere of my most memorable life occurrences, which derive from extreme human social behaviors.
I’m interested in critiquing how sexuality is socially and psychologically manifested in modern concepts. I’m currently looking into my indigenous Brazilian roots, which derives from my grandmothers’ lineage. I’m fascinated by the extremes that develop within popular culture such as the sagging and the perfectly rounded. I’m questioning its continuous quest for physically “faultless” humans and the ideology of the sexually desired, a derivative of the modern look and it’s issues of power, and the fetishism of the artificial. I’m intending for my work to provoke thoughts of reality, sexuality, and awareness through a biological expression by dehumanizing and de-categorizing by means of deconstructing and re -morphing gender, to finally arrive at a new state of a “bizarre” and voluptuous future beings.
Curriculum Vitae
Education: San Francisco Art Institute B.F.A. Interdisciplinary Major June 2002
Professional Experience:
2011 Visiting Artist Instructor, Relief & Mono Printing , University of Guadalajara Norte, Mexico
2010 Artist Team: Los Sincuentas, Bay Area/Mexico
Mentor, South San Francisco High School Mentor Program, San Francisco, California
Art Teacher Arts With Elders January 2008- present San Francisco, CA
Instruct senior citizens at Central Gardens Convalescent Hospital, Laguna Honda Hospital, Nacarior’s Home Care, Western Park Apartments, Grand Sequoias and Hayes Convalescent Center in multiple mediums. Adapt art lessons to meet the individual needs of students who suffer from chronic illness including depression, dementia and sensory deprivation. Assist student preparation for annual juried art exhibit for the community.
Preparator Mission Cultural Center, Driftwood Salon, AWE
06/05-08/07 Volunteer Teacher/Mentor Opa-locka Elementary Miami, FL
Created and taught a multi-level art curriculum with an emphasis on the impact of community arts Designed and taught hands-on science lesson plans for third and fourth grade students in accordance with state standards on South Florida’s habitat.. Created mentoring program for at risk youth. Led off-site visits for fishing and camping. Volunteer chess coach.
Awards/Honors:
2009 Marin MOCA, Best in Show, juror Ruth Braunstein
2006 Jakmel Galley, Best in Show, juror Gloria Dias
1997 Merit Scholarship SFAI
Selected Solo Shows and Performances:
2011 Exposition Graphica, University of Guadalajara, Colotlan Mexico
Americano, Driftwood Salon, San Francisco, California
2010 The Fat of the Land, Café Royal, San Francisco, California
The Fat of the land, L- Hub, Oakland California
2008 Property for Sale Performance, Picnic Islands, Miami, Florida
2007 Street Vendor Performance, Little Havana, Miami, Florida
2005 El Lunchero, Springs Auto Body, Miami, Florida
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2010 Dia de los Muertos, Pateluma Arts Council, Pateluma,California
Expressiones Marin Community Foundation, Marin, California
Day of the Dead, San Francisco Symphony Hall, San Francisco
Fake Real Fake, L-Hub, Oakland, California
From the Matrix to Migration, University of Guadalajara, Colotlan, Mexico
Art Houses of Marin, Ritter Center, San Rafael, California
Lost and Found, Driftwood Salon, San Francisco, California
Art of the Mission, San Francisco City Hall, San Francisco, California
Contemporary Print Making, Marin MOCA, Novato, California
Illusions, Driftwood Salon, San Francisco, California
The Preview, Driftwood Salon, San Francisco, California
2009 Day of the Dead Show, MCCLA, San Francisco, California
Alchemy Show. Marin MOCA, Novato, California
2008 Art View, Constitutional Hall, Washington, D.C
Works On Paper, SF MOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, California
Experimental Political Drawings, MCCLA, San Francisco, California
2007 Holiday Show, Root Division, San Francisco, California
Earth Day Extravaganza, Jakmel Gallery, Miami, Florida
2004 Garage Sale, Warehouse Take over, Atlanta, Georgia
2002 Senior Show, SFAI, San Francisco, California
El Salon de Rejection, SFAI, San Francisco, California
For Those Who Were Butchered, SFAI, San Francisco, California
.
Bibliography:
2011 B TV, Berkeley
2010 Radio UDG Colotlan
Art is Moving Blog Spot. Oakland
Newswire.com
Marin Magazine
Art, Revolution and Journalism
Visiting Artist Lectures and Panel:
2011 La Graphica Mordena, University Of Guadelajara Norte, Mexico
2010 Life in the Art World, Mission Cultural Center
Creating Space for Creativity, San Francisco Main Library
2009 AWE, Genentech, San Francisco, California
Exhibitions Juried: AWE 17thAnnual Exhibition
Collections:
University of Guadalajara Norte
Ron Collins Collection
