The artist Statement
by Monica Gonzalez
Humans
have a common misconception that fears lack any capacity of beauty. My body of
work revolves around the concept of fear. When developing my ideas I focused
mainly on themes or ideas that perturb people rather than using naturalism or
explicit images to cause visual dismay. My main purpose is to make the audience
think beyond the painting, recognize the exquisiteness of it first, and then
realize that it is in fact a fear. With my body of work I intend on defying that
idea by exposing the charming elegance that common catalysts of distress have.
I initially started by grabbing ideas
that created universal dismay, like destiny and death. At this point I was
still discovering my identity as an artist, so I was exploring various styles
and combinations of media at the time. It was until I created my still life
painting of grapes, Asphyxia, that I realized that my style of
preference was photorealism. My style began to unleash when I created my
negative painting, Soledad. This painting motivated me to take
spontaneous risks, like creating lens based project that literally can only be
seen through a technological lens. With this painting I not only presented the
fear of being alone, but also made a social critique of how technology has
isolated humans throughout the years. The audience will only understand the
full meaning of the artwork when they realize that their attention, at the very
moment of seeing the artwork, is being entirely sucked in by technology. Also,
I placed this painting in the direction opposite to the one people enter the
exhibit, so that it is the first thing that the audience sees of my exhibit because
it looks dissonant so it is an element of surprise. I will have a set of
instructions on how to properly use a lens to see the true colors of the
artwork to make my exhibit interactive.
I tend to say that Self-Portrait marks
an important event in the course of my artistic self. I did not implement any
connection to my general theme of fear, but it connects to my body of work
because it marks a defining point in my style of attempting to portray objects
as they are truly, like photorealism. I then began to portray original
compositions of images, like Lights of a Forgotten City. I kept the
paintings visually compelling to make the viewer observe the beauty of the
painting only to realize it is a common fear, therefore realizing that fears do
in fact possess great elegance and beauty.
The Euphonious Doodles were a
way to explore how altering my surroundings, in this case with music, alters my
artworks as well. The doodles expose entirely the workings of my mind and the
subconscious nature of a doodle. With these doodles I expose the theme of fear
by showing a fear of letting go. Fear of freeing one’s mind. Yet, instead of
portraying the theme itself, I portrayed the way in which I overcame the fear
of letting my mind: with doodling while listening to music. I want to invite
the audience to experience letting go of the fear of freeing one’s mind by placing
a blank drawing paper besides my own doodles with a pen. Also, I will place an
iPod with headphones for the audience to listen to music while creating a small
fragment of the doodle. This way, my exhibition will be interactive.
I have a vision that through art,
anything is possible. I am aware that the previous sentence sounds incredibly
cliché and cheesy, but in this course I have witnessed the reality of this.
Through art I was able to find beauty in fears, something few people would
consider as charming. I also proved that it is possible to overcome fears
through art and, ultimately, that nothing is more authentic than one’s own
artistic purpose.
A Dream Come True by Monica Gonzalez
Mixed media. 60cm x 60cm x 30cm
For this set of sculptures I faced my biggest fear: spiders. The purpose of this artwork was to overcome my fear of arachnids through art. After carrying an in-depth investigation of spider anatomy and behavior, I created a series of about 20 aluminum spiders to get used to their body. The golden spiders represent spiders inside of a nightmare, gradually coming to life. When in reality, they represent my fear fading away. With this artwork I proved that beating fears through art is possible.
Asphyxia by Monica Gonzalez
Acrylics on canvas. 51cm x 41cm
Somewhat related to the dangers of technology, this artwork presents the contradiction of nature and man-made structures. The still-life painting is meant to captivate the audience’s attention to notice the odd pairing of plastic bags and grapes. The presence of plastic makes the grapesseem almost synthetic, sucking the natural beauty out. Yet, the title of asphyxia is not about the grapes being choked, it’s about humans being unconsciously suffocated byexcess unnatural surroundings.
Black Widow by Monica Gonzalez
Printmaking. 30cm x 45cm
After attempting to beat my fear of spiders, I ended up appreciating their flawless complexion. This is why I decided to create a printmaking stamp of a black widow resting on its spiderweb. Although I no longer fear spiders as before, I’m aware that many people do. Therefore, my audience could feel uncomfortable when faced to a spider.
Euphonious Doodles by Monica Gonzalez
Ink pen on drawing paper. 28cm x 40cm each
I decided to explore what I call “euphonious doodles,” or doodles done while listening to music. The synesthesia of the title represents my experience of doodling: drawing with the brain, not the hand. The fear portrayed is the fear of letting go. The doodles seem free for a moment, but if looked from afar, they look somewhat caged inside a rigid shape. This represents how people are too afraid to let go of people’s judgements to do whatever they please.
Las 4AM es la hora del miedo by Monica Gonzalez
Acrylics on canvas. 69cm x 93cm
The title, translated in english as “4AM is the time of fear,” is meant to depict multiple fears at once. People, thoughts, emotions, memories, everything that disturbs the peace of mind is canalized through this painting. The hidden human in the lower half represents how clouded one’s mind can be when they are afraid. I chose 4AM because it’s the quietest moment of the day, where fears tend to attack in silence.
Lights of a Forgotten City by Monica Gonzalez
Acrylics on canvas
Size: 102cm x 153cm
The apocalyptic setting immediately connotes a fearful mood. The time and space of this artwork is meant to be uncertain to evoke mystery. To create time confusion I illustrated a car from the 20th century juxtaposed with modern urban structures that is traveling in an uncertain direction. This also portrays my fear of forgetting school and moving to the “grown-up” life. The second before the passenger in the car dies is presented. But, is there even someone in the car? Look again.
Self-Portrait by Monica Gonzalez
Oils on canvas. 51cm x 41cm
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I consider this one of my most valuable artworks because of the skills I collected in the process of the making. This portrait allowed me to discover that my style of preference is photorealism, reflected in the rest of my artworks done after this one. The close up and the silly face of the portrait also capture my personality and essence, not only my physical features. I faced the fear of facing my flaws to capture the photorealistic effect.
Sobre el destino y la muerte by Monica Gonzalez
Mixed media. 52cm x 25cm
Translated to english, “About destiny and death,” this artwork portrays the fears of destiny and death as God-likefigures. Death is the ransom for humans to be released from destiny’s controlling nature, denoted with wires. The last human, going in the opposite direction, no longer has a wire. Hence, the opposition of death versus destiny. With the lonesome setting of a forest with blood-like tonalities, the overall mood of fear and a dystopian scene are achieved.
Soledad by Monica Gonzalez
Acrylics on cardboard. 118cm x 80cm
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