Dave McClinton delves into the gravity of American history by depicting the life cycle of a black’s inner life. The meaning of McClinton’s work is the depiction of the strength and hardships of the African American community, which contributes to the study of collective identity. Dave McClinton channeled his life experiences, ideas, and emotions into provocative, graphically complex, and colorfully rendered digital collage portraits. Creativity McClinton is made in the form of a digital collage. The author used textures, archival images, family photos, and a self-portrait to create unique faces that tell a black story. These portraits are printed with archival inks on 100% cotton paper. The invention of faces and bodies expresses no less than a photograph of a real black man.
McClinton performed facials by using body parts from various people. The nose is taken from one source, the eyes from another one, and the lips from a third one. Thus, those people do not technically exist. Therefore, when the viewer sees a portrait of a face, it is not a person’s photograph. It is something that has been stitched together from several different sources. Partly, the McClinton works refer to surrealism, which is characterized by allusions, a paradoxical combination of forms, and visual deception. It results in an awkward-looking figure. But it’s the perfect description of what McClinton is trying to understand in terms of the awkwardness of just being a black person trying to get through the day.
In turn, the work of Marisol Valencia is focused on the manufacture of sculptures from ceramics and other materials. Unusual combinations of materials create unique pieces. Valencia finds ways to manipulate and relate materials to each other to achieve visual ambiguity that will encourage viewers to rethink their assumptions about those materials. The author expands the perception of everyday objects, focusing on their aesthetic and formal qualities, which are often overshadowed by their functionality. Refined works of art, made from aged or damaged materials, are given a second life filled with a new purpose.
Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee’s paintings focus on marine life. The author’s paintings depict unearthly, intricate forms. The work is done in oil. However, I used handmade paints as Folmsbee prefers to work with pure mineral pigments instead of synthetic ones. Folmsbee’s work is not photorealistic or abstract but has a distinct and unique style. The artist’s work invites the audience into this world and takes the viewer into the moment of scuba diving. Folmsbee art installations transform space and immerse in this beauty through abstraction and realism. The works are interdisciplinary and use a mixture of oil painting, ceramics, and large-scale art murals to transform the space. In general, the exhibition includes paintings, photographs, sculptures, and installations. The spatial connection between the works and the viewer creates a feeling of closeness to the marine world.
Mahimtura Folmsbee embraces the various forms of the marine world through linear progression, color, and a visual look at an abstract and figurative painting. At the heart of Folmsbee’s work is her deep passion for marine conservation, and this exhibition is the culmination of years of raising awareness of the health of the world’s oceans. Folmsbee has a distinct style of painting. Her work is realistic but is not a photographic representation of an image and is not visually abstract. They are realistic in appearance but conceptual in thought, and therefore Folmsbee’s work can be classified as conceptual realism. Behind all conceptual art, there is a certain form of this or that thought. The author directs conceptual art not too emotional perception but to intellectual comprehension of what she saw, heard, and felt. Thus, the key concept of Folmsbee’s creativity is the underwater world and the problem of its conservation.
Engraving has a special property that distinguishes it from other types of art; it is a print run. More than in any other art form, the connection between technique and style is noticeable in printed graphics. The content of Richard’s work is defined by the romanticism of the American landscape and the blending of Mexican, American, and indigenous cultures. Armendariz’s paintings include cultural, biographical, and historical aspects. The works are cut with power tools and burnt onto the surface of a painting, drawing, or wooden blocks, which later become prints. Armendariz combines traditional painting, drawing, and engraving techniques with non-traditional painting or carving techniques to achieve a unique style and aesthetic in her work.
The artistic and conceptual aesthetic of Armendariz is heavily influenced by growing up on the US-Mexico border. Examples of this are his large wood carvings of the curandero and the western plains buffalo. There is also a copious depiction of birds, rabbits, bears, buffalo, and coyotes carved into the birch, all representing the past and present of his life in the Texas-Mexico border regions.
Themes related to the dynamics of power, sentimental love, as well as passionate and explosive love are the conceptual basis of the author’s works. Greek and Mesoamerican mythology plays an important role in the artist’s exploration of the complex relationship between humans and animals. As a figurative artist, Armendariz enjoys playing with human anatomy and discovering possible connections to animal characteristics that provide a deeper understanding of humanity.
The Shawn Camp paintings featured in the Fragments and Memories exhibition depict conflicting geometric planes and paradoxical spatial relationships. Thanks to the unpredictable angles and constantly changing surfaces depicted in the paintings, the artist explores the subtleties of materiality, shapes, and colors. It is noteworthy that the paintings are drawn by a special technique, which uses numerous layers of translucent paint superimposed on each other. The main thing in the paintings of Camp is the surface. He makes flat, simple shapes but with different light. As if playing with these textures and surfaces, the author gets that flat forms become voluminous and convex. Geometric abstraction performed by Camp sets clarity, rhythm, and order. Therefore, such paintings resonate with me since I am inclined to order, plan, and accuracy.
In turn, in his paintings, Michael Villarreal depicted the bare bones of the house in which he grew up. The paintings depict a separate stage of the construction of the building, which allows the viewer to connect to this process and imagine its completion. Each painting was created within a week, allowing the alla prima and impasto techniques to create abstract moments that sometimes don’t feel complete. The paintings are distinguished by thick and voluminous strokes, making it possible to achieve special emotionality and brightness. The canvases seem to come to life, conveying the feelings and intention of Villarreal not only through the general plot, color palette, and composition but also through the texture of brush strokes. It is noteworthy that applying one layer of paint on top of another, is not yet dry, and getting the desired result requires a certain skill and special understanding. After all, oil paint is malleable, and one layer can partially disappear and dissolve in another. Thanks to these techniques, the artist managed to convey on canvas a fleeting impression that cannot be recorded and painted for weeks.
References
Glasstire. (2022). Five-minute tours: Dave McClinton and Marisol Valencia at Anya Tish Gallery, Houston. Glasstire.
Glasstire. (2022). Five-minute tours: Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee at Heidi Vaughan Fine Art, Houston. Glasstire.
Glasstire. (2022). Five-minute tours: Richard “Ricky” Armendariz at Nicole Longnecker Gallery, Houston. Glasstire.
Glasstire. (2022). Five-minute tours: Shawn Camp and Michael Villarreal at ICOSA Collective, Austin. Glasstire.