The inclusion of family dynamics, Hispanic culture, self-identity, societal beauty standards, disabilities, insomnia, and minority economic disparities are running themes within the paintings. Esmeralda Velasquez is a visual artist with a BA in Art Practice and a Minor in Art History from the University of California, Berkeley. Their work combines traditional easel paintings and mixed media painting exploration. Their paintings are large-scale, colorful, concise, structured, and include still-lives derived from family photographs. Either from albums or self-taken images. The paintings have borderline illustrative qualities and realistic qualities combining 2D and 3D perspectives. Some pieces have more narrative-forward stories while others derive from observational studies. The pieces are meant to be life depictions because it questions the visuality of museum representations. Latinx work does not need to have certain symbols or perspectives for it to be considered hispanic work.
The inclusion of family dynamics, Hispanic culture, self-identity, societal beauty standards, disabilities, insomnia, and minority economic disparities are running themes within the paintings. Esmeralda Velasquez is a visual artist with a BA in Art Practice and a Minor in Art History from the University of California, Berkeley. Their work combines traditional easel paintings and mixed media painting exploration. Their paintings are large-scale, colorful, concise, structured, and include still-lives derived from family photographs. Either from albums or self-taken images. The paintings have borderline illustrative qualities and realistic qualities combining 2D and 3D perspectives. Some pieces have more narrative-forward stories while others derive from observational studies. The pieces are meant to be life depictions because it questions the visuality of museum representations. Latinx work does not need to have certain symbols or perspectives for it to be considered hispanic work.
La Cuidadora
2023 Oil paint on canvas, 30’’ x 40’’
The gaze is explored in this paintings by a hispanic mother taking care of her baby girl. She is tired and although resting the job of mother never truly ends.
Infinite Memory Limited Space Triptych
2024. Oil paint, vine charcoal, and oil pastels on canvas, 3 48’’ x 72’’ canvases.
What routines shape our days? What do we neglect and push aside? Hands are versatile instruments of creation and destruction, revealing the essence of our endeavors. The Triptych, Infinite Memory Limited Space, delves into the fleeting nature of existence and our struggle to grasp the intangible spaces we construct as our roles change. Memories are created every day and are a constant within our experiences and yet the spaces we’ve created will inevitably be subjects of change. The figures in each of their separate spaces have intersected at some point through mutual connections yet will always have distinct burdens and discover their own joie de vivre. The intersectionality between drawing and painting navigates life. Reflecting on societal dynamics, the scars of conflict, and the quiet resilience of hope. This piece is reflective of the essence of being yet meant to be versatile.
Figures left to right: Patryck, Alison, Neil
Papá y Yo
2023 Oil paint on canvas, 48’’ x 60’’ in
This painting demonstrates the intricacies of relationships between daughter and father dynamics. Especialy depicting the intricacies of hispanic familial bonds. The paitning is based off an old photgraph with slight modifications apart from a series of work that contemplates the need to represent a photo as a paitning.