Saturday, August 4, 2012

Starting a new project for 2012-13


This year has been a busy one so far. After having two solo shows one in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Santa Fe, New Mexico, travelling to Guatemala and El Salvador and coming back to my studio and completing two commissions I now feel ready to embark on a  new adventure. There has been a project occupying my mind for some years already. Since my thesis project and exhibition Iconsumer I have been sporadically inserting narratives related to the Tarot in my work.  The more I studied the archetypes present in the Tarot cards, the more captivated I've been by this elusive and mysterious imagery. I have been researching the hidden meaning behind these cards and even started my own collection of decks.  After working with Christian iconography, historical and mythological figures, which lead me to the study of archetypal astrology, it makes perfect sense to carefully study and see how I can incorporate the archetypes present in the Tarot into my work. It seems like the right time to concentrate completely and inmerse myself in this universe of archetypes while keeping the neo-colonial narratives very present in the work. By adding this extra layer of meaning I intend to enrich and expand the original discourse on how colonialism is still very active in our global age. I shall document my creative process not only in my personal journal but also in this blog. I hope to cover techniques, concepts and philosophy behind the images I will be working on. I have already made  sketches of all the cards and pinned these right in front of my work desk to serve as a map for my journey.  Everytime An idea comes to mind I write it down on one of the 22 sketches depending on with what card I think the idea would fit in or correspond. Each card will have a Christian Icon related in some way to the colonial iconography in Latin America and the original achetype used in the Tarot. I already started with  this preparatory drawing for my  first card of the Tarot: "The fool".

San Roque Illegal Alien