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.
In My Home
2023 Oil paint on canvas, 24'' x 30''
Portrays what my home looks like and how family is important to life. The people who are closest to you and can see you grow into an adult. I think the people you encounter within your family can at times feels alienating so this peice also represents that gaze of a younger family member that feels at home but because of his young age he doesn’t have the need to question what familial bonds are quite just yet.