ARTIST STATEMENT

The art represented is the most current in my studio practice. It brings together several bodies of work and experiments with layers of gold, the precious indigenous metal taken from my birthplace by European conquerors. As I worked, I discovered that in applying gold leaf to images that resembled island shapes, I was in fact re-appropriating the gold to the Caribbean Islands.

The work signifies a shift from displacement ( experienced by immigration and struggle ) to ascension ( expressed by the divine and a sense of having been elevated to new ground) to a place of glory. So, everything is seen anew as the island’s landscape seamlessly shifts from a traditional view to an aerial view. 

The Mash-ups are personal family narratives that speak to several generations of the Dominican women in my family preoccupied with struggling with identity, much like the immigrant youth in this country who can also draw strength from the understanding their roots. “Four Year Old Mash-up” is a self portrait at the age when I was separated from my mother due to immigration, whereas “Gabina Mash-up” represents my grandmother who managed to keep our family united through separation. Landscape and the figure fuse as inner self is immersed in it’s rightful place of origin, an island rich in natural resources and spirit.

I was classically trained. Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya and Velazquez were the masters we studied, whose legacies I claimed as my own. My paintings were figurative. Early on in my formative years my palette was a Baroque one, muted, and controlled focusing on the human quality of the sitter and allowing them to emerge from the paint. Drawing was my biggest and strongest foundation. Everything was build on that foundation. Drawing transitioned from an elemental tool to a full fledged form of expression. I loved making mural sized drawings with charcoal pencil…the sensation of walking into the image was intoxicating. For years this was my preferred form of expression.Printmaking also played a role in this traditional fine art training.