Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Velasquez, Joseph

Abstract

My fascination with the human figure remains a prominent part of my work as a familiar and complex path to formalist traditions. But as I have sought to expand my engagement with representational figuration, I look towards themes of universal emotions and conditions - grief, remembrance, anger, affection and resolve. Within this, I often allude to socio-political content, art historical references or personal experiences. In integrating representational figuration with a contemporary approach, I incorporate techniques of drawing, painting and printmaking into narrative formats while preserving the figure as the protagonist. I lean into gestural lines, expressive marks and abstract color fields to breathe life into the work and enhance the emotive context. I embrace the intuitive process as I believe it reflects and retains a certain spiritual spontaneity and response. Recently, I have experienced deep loss. It is the grief associated with this that has informed these pieces. Grief is a process that can be present, historical, anticipatory or prolonged. I have been stricken by a wide range of losses –personal, societal, political and cultural - death of loved ones, risk of severe limitations to civil liberties and bodily autonomy, global wars and violence, xenophobia, brutal attacks on democratic ideals and even the inevitable passage of time have precipitated my personal and visceral grief.

Extent

71 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (MFA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2024.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00014445

Format

pdf

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