FEATURED ARTISTS

Yobana Graciano August - September 2012

Art has always been my happiness and my sanity. Becoming an artist is an addictive and self exploratory process which has seen me through many of life's trials. Often, my work is an autobiographical expression that analyzes my subconscious thoughts and feelings. With every painting, drawing, and print I delve further and further into my most inert self exploring my history, my frustrations, and my desire for change through this self scrutiny. All this while struggling to respect the formal obligations of my cultural background as a Hispanic female.

The female figure is a prevalent recurring theme that embodies human sensibility, beauty, fragility, strength, fleeting desires, and dissatisfaction. The feminine form sometimes appear as if in a dreamlike state of mind mystified by a transitional in motion. In other instances the figure is a self representation of the emotions, and battles my narcissistic mind deals with.

Oil painting, drawing, and printmaking have become my weapons of choice in this journey of self exploration.

Printmaking refers to processes such as screen printing, etching, and lithography.These mediums grant me the ability to experiment with textured papers, cloth, color, and pigments of various viscosity. Enjoying the process of each medium is as much a part of the final work as the work itself.

Each piece begins with the need to tell a story pertaining to the prevailing feeling, opinion, or qualm over a subject. My hyper attention to detail focuses on the technical aspects of each process as well as the language of the image. The materials chosen have facilitated the self analytic obsession by facilitating the production of bold imagery through the unique processes required for each medium.

This selection of work deals with how the love of their creation has kept me happy and sane by giving me the ability to bring into fruition the suppressed subconscious tendencies of my mind. A dialogue has been opened with myself through the work and has also created a venue for its viewers to span on their own interpretations and inner beings.
- Yobi Graciano

Solo Exhibition