VCA2023

"Así es la vida del artista", which translates to "That's the life of an artist", is something my dad would tell me whenever I was feeling down and missing my home country. This self portrait depicts myself with an expression of shock on my face and a maple leaf covering my mouth. The leaf over my mouth represents Canada and the difficulty of being myself in a different environment. The background is a stylized version of multiple copihues (Chile's national flower) made from a handmade stencil. With this painting, I want to express my internal conflict of being Chilean and living in Canada. Even though I have lived here for a while, I feel as though I have not accustomed to the culture and lifestyle and feel very lonely. This painting represents those inner feelings of trying to fit in within a society that is very different from my own.

This collage series references the human's senses and tells an unrequited love story. It asks the questions: Can you feel me? Can you see me? Can you love me? You can't. The series is unified by the use of a triadic colour scheme and the positioning of the text as it reads from left to right.

"Mis Casas" Series, which translates to "My Houses" is a series of three pieces that depict the territory outlines of Mexico, Chile and Suriname as well as drawings of the houses that I lived in, in those countries. I wanted to show how different these countries were, not just because of the culture and languages, but something as "simple" as the architecture of the houses. With these Series, I also wanted to remember and honor where I came from and who I am now, thanks to the experiences that I've had in the countries I've called home. It is a love letter to the countries that gave me so many good memories and experiences.

This series of digital pieces talks about the pain and discomfort I feel in my wrist due to the damaged tendons in my dominant hand. Everything used to create the pieces centers around my hand and things related to my hand. For example, I made a 3D model of my hand, took photographs of my hand, made analog strokes with my hand, recorded sound clips of my wrist cracking and took pictures of the skin marks made from the wrist brace I wear to protect my wrist from further damage. The intention is to make the viewer uncomfortable and feel the pain and discomfort I feel everyday.

For this semester long project, I completely redesigned the Air Transat brand. Starting by investigating about the brand and what it represents, a new logo was designed with a font that better suited the brand, as well as colors. After that, a 16-page brand standards guide was designed, later an 8-page annual report document was designed and lastly, a website and app were also designed. The document above shows a selection of the designs mentioned before.

A Gif depicting an original character of mine dancing to music and getting upset when it gets cut off. I wanted to try making an animated gif by telling a silly story.

Made completely from an encyclopedia book and its pages, HOMÚNCULO represents just how important these types of books were before the popularization of online encyclopedias. The huge head was sculpted to have many organic shapes coming out of it, representing the expansion of knowledge and creativity one can get from a single book.

A painting depicting my dog Schatzi being on top of the world. We always treat her like a queen and like she owns everything, so I thought it would be very funny to depict that in my painting.

This staged photography piece depicts various diary products spelling out the word "Milk". Each letter was molded out of a different diary product and they were meticulously placed next to each other while a picture was taken from above. The overall objective of the piece was to represent the chosen word using related material.

For this semester long project, I designed a 36-page book and later printed it to have as a physical book. Above are just the cover of the book and three double-page layouts as a preview. The idea behind the book was to make a Compendium that tells information of the fictional Mistre Empire and its leaders. This fictional world started over three years ago, in collaboration with my friend Michelle Calzada Montes. I wanted to collect all the information we have created over the years and make a book with illustrations of maps, people and symbols dedicated to my dear friend Michelle. Te quiero mucho Cactus <3

Using the painting: Male Nude with Arms Up-Stretched by William Etty as a base, the study aims to expand the understanding of the muscles in the human body. I chose this particular painting because of the model's pose as I was very interested in how the muscles would contour and contract. I wanted to challenge myself with such a complex and tensed pose.

A poster that uses both an image and typography to introduce me and shows facts about myself in a visually appealing manner.

This piece expresses my personal struggles of being an artist. I have combined two of the things I struggle with the most: creative burnout and cumulative wrist pains from overuse. The draining of my creativity is represented with multiple colours slowly coming out of my mouth and neck and into my wrist that is being restricted by a brace. For me, that is the sacrifice of being an artist.

This piece is very important to me because of what it stands for. The text, which translates to, "Water is my right, not your f*cking business", speaks against the privatization of water in my country, Chile. Water there is not a right, but rather a product owned by four large foreign companies from Spain, France, Japan and Canada, which is represented by flag pins on each suit jacket. Additionally, each spout is ingrained with the acronyms of the companies that own the water. This piece is speaking directly to those people that get rich off of a human right and denounces it. Water should be a right for everyone, not something to profit off.

A fact sheet mockup about Chilean Poet and Noble Prize Winner Pablo Neruda.

Design for a beverage drink in a can inspired by the weird-core aesthetic. The idea behind this brand was that every month there would be a different design for the cans, keeping fonts and the main subject consistent (as can be seen). This would promote people buying the product every month to collect the can designs.

This drawing represents the solitude I felt during the pandemic. This still life was made during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and each object represents my solitude in different ways: The balloon symbolizes having to spend my birthday all alone. The mask represents having to wear it everywhere for protection which consequently meant that I became known as just a pair of eyes. The bell pepper was the focus of my studies during this time and thus became my greatest company.

This still life of kitchen objects is meant to portray chaos as none of the objects are shown in a way they would normally be used. The blade knife is tilted up, reflecting an upside down wine glass that has a peeler balancing on top. The teeter of the peeler creates tension while the shadows work to create interesting negative space around the objects.

In this 1 hour study of a close-up face, I concentrated in capturing the way the lighting puts focus on the structure of the face. A primary focus of this study was to capture the model's likeness as close as possible. Extra care was put in drawing the facial features to create a lively expression.

This 45 minute study of two glasses of water uses black paper and white chalk pastel. As an artist, I am used to drawing on white paper with a dark color. By doing the opposite, I challenged myself to concentrate on how the highlights create form as opposed to shadows. This study forced me to carefully observe the objects in front of me to ensure I was capturing the characteristic of the water.

A self portrait that depicts my own struggles with my self confidence. I always doubt myself and struggle with believing in my artistic abilities. This painting portrays this struggle in the form of three-dimensional shapes made with modeling paste that always haunts my mind.

In this 50 minute drawing of a model on a chair, the study aimed to capture the subtle curve of the back as well as the intricate folds of the fabric both draping across her and in the foreground. There was a focus on organic line art with subtle shading to compliment the piece.