I think of my paintings as visual hybrids. They draw from many diverse sources; Baroque sensibilities in Mexican, and earlier European art and architecture, as well as Modernist painting of the 1950s. The idea of taking particular elements from many things and then combining them to make something new is important to me.
I’m interested in how, when combined, these unlikely and often oppositional elements bump up against each other, often in awkward ways, to create a new visual language. I work with visual elements that are both personal, and art historical references and hopefully re-contextualize those familiar elements to find new ways of looking at and considering painting.
The shaped stretched canvases with curvilinear edges, pit ornate sensuality against the cool, modernist austerity of color fields and flat silhouettes. Things like Ornate rococo mirrors, decoration, and architecture inform the canvas shapes. Creating a fine line on how the canvases are at once objects and windows that create optical space, while never fully giving in to, or becoming, either is something I try to accomplish. They are also meticulously handmade and unusual forms.
Ultimately I am interested in making visual statements that are unusual, ambiguous and yet familiar at the same time.
RM