Moderno by Saul Villegas: Retrospective
Artist Statement:
The present exhibition highlights work from the past decade in search of meaning and self-reflection. A variety of mediums with a stylized approach ranges from ink, painting, drawing, graphics design, and photography. The techniques shown have emphasized the line’s quality as a means for signature mark-making gestural brushstrokes. My approach to creating artwork stems from folklore, mythology, story-telling, dreams, and responses to other artists’ work. Being aware of the pressures of art galleries and institutions catalog style of creative expression and the importance of creating a series created for me a restriction in one particular style or concept. I always chose to be random and collective; however, the work collects random styles and interpretations from my development as an artist to create an ongoing documentative series. With this freedom of visual expression and exploration, my ability to express an idea into a form using color and design has had an alternative approach. The show Retrospective seeks to invite the viewer to investigate and view an artist’s toolbox’s foundation as a way to view a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process. A look back into past artistic choices has inspired me to create artwork that merges manual art-making methods with technology and digital design. Searching for techniques in my archives has informed my creative practice in a way that continues to enhance the art experience.
1.Title: "Portrait with first pastel work."
Medium: Digital Photograph
Year: 2015
Description: Self-portrait still life with my first pastel portrait (framed in the background) has inspired me to develop my art practice. Painted at only 15 years old, the pastel piece won numerous awards and landed me a spot at the California State Summer School for the arts during my youth. Working at a custom framing art gallery, I framed my first pastel and have exhibited it on rare occasions.
2.Title: "Golden Swan portrait."
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Year: 2015
Description: As a painting project done at the San Francisco Art Institute, this portrait displays my ability to produce energy through line and color. This work reminds me of the skill and perseverance to remain faithful to my identity and art practice.
3.Title: "Judgement."
Medium: Acrylic-Ink
Year: 2016
Description: Growing up in a Catholic religious home, iconography and depictions of the dramatic story influenced my art. These gestures of figurative language were arranged to tell a story. Although in my stylized work, the gestures are not fully developed and are meant to give you an ‘impression’.
4.Title: "Mercury.”
Medium: Digital Painting
Year: 2013
Description: This is a digital painting study using personifications of mythology themes to express a sketch.
5.Title: "The Mask in a whirlpool."
Medium: Digital Painting
Year: 2013
Description: Creating this style of digital painting allowed for a solarized effect using a variety of filters. This exploration of brushstrokes translated from a tablet to a computer was an intersection of manual and digital practices to depict the idea.
6.Title: "La Alegoría de la conciencia Divina." “The allegory of the divine consciousness.”
Medium: Acrylic
Year: 2014
Description: Fascinated with allegorical themes in historic paintings, this artwork represents the personification of good and evil. A nod to my religious upbringing, these themes have inspired me to look beyond the religious aspects and attempt to transcend the sublime and form it into a story. I also included my self-portrait at the bottom. The allegory of the Divine Consciousness seeks to have an exchange with the viewer to take a deeper look at oneself.
7.Title: "Doves in the Shed."
Medium: Watercolor-Acrylic-Ink-Pastel
Year: 2012
Description: A mixed media approach was used to create the different textures in this illustration inspired by the artist John James Audubon. This illustration was done with the use of an original photograph as a reference. The stylized mark-making creates a presence of the artist’s decisions.
8.Title: "Stroller"
Medium: Charcoal-Digital Design
Year: 2015
Description: Part of my art practice is in the mixing of the medium of photography to translate my sketches into editing programs. Applying filters to overlay on the charcoal sketch enhances the artwork to create a mood. This style of coloring is a method overused in social media applications. The separation from the mundane and overpopulation of digital selfies and photographs is disconnected from that environment. The organic line work somehow portrays the energy the artist has as opposed to a still image.
9.Title: "El Genio."
Medium: Acrylic Ink
Year: 2017
Description: Calligraphic brushstrokes inspired by sumi-e ink wash paintings lend themselves to strict practice in your linework. Here, the illustration was the first sketch with an ink pen, then followed by varying widths of strokes with tapered ends for emphasis. Applying transparent layers and using color theory to balance out the contrast, this artwork shows a feeling of fluidity in the response to the form. This work was featured in Cal Poly’s Pomona Valley Review Literary Arts Journal as the cover image.
10.Title: "The Phoenix and the Swan."
Medium: Acrylic-Ink-Gold & Silver Leaf
Year: 2013
Description: This artwork is a panel of (5) squares joined together to create a panoramic view of the celestial world. The transformation that occurs in this artwork is of a phoenix, historically portrayed as a symbol of regeneration. The metamorphosis of the phoenix into the swan symbolizes different aspects of my personality. The painting was a commission for the Historic Tower District Theatre in Fresno, CA. The center panel landed as a finalist for the Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino in 2014. The organization has rallied to create a Smithsonian branch to Latino contributions and most recently got approved to build in the nation’s capitol.
11.Title: "Metamorphosis of the Sun"
Medium: Acrylic
Year: 2017
Description: Another series of panoramic panels joined together to create a scene. The experience in this painting came at a time of self-reflection and my thoughts on Memento Mori. Having experienced a traumatic event in 2004 with the passing of my brother, artwork intended to reconcile those feelings were confronted with artistic expression.
12.Title: "Dragon in a Cave."
Medium: Digital Painting
Year: 2011
Description: A commissioned digital painting for a novel called Legacy: A Father’s Tale by Roger G. Laird. It was projects like these that encouraged my art practice to develop in ways that could be used as a communication tool for another artist’s and writer’s points of view.
13.Title: "Blue Discus"
Medium: Soft Pastel
Year: 2013
Description: (no text to allow a pause for the viewer)
14.Title: "Liberty."
Medium: Digital Illustration-Ink
Year: 2017
Description: (no text to allow a pause for the viewer)
15.Title: “Untitled.”
Medium: Ink-Watercolor
Year: 2010
Description:(no text to allow a pause for the viewer)
16.Title: “Interpretation of Leda and the Swan.”
Medium: Ink-Soft Pastel-Charcoal
Year: 2012
Description: Using charcoal and ink washes I created a textured and flowy background. Within the clouds, faces started to form as a response to perceiving ambiguous figures or familiar objects, also known as paraedoila. These stylized sketches not only informed me of the mythology surrounding the story but also the symbols and subject matter. My interpretation of masterworks is a reflection of my interest in those themes.
17.Title: “The creation of the Swan.”
Medium: Ink
Year: 2016
Description: Using a swan as the personification of myself, themes in metamorphosis and transformation from animal qualities to human figures give a nod to the past in mythology and story-telling. Here, I have used the familiar posing of the previous sketch to sharpen and give more clarity to the subject. This scene has a multitude of symbols and meanings.
18.Title: “Bust of Man.”
Medium: Ink
Year: 2010
Description: A new method of developing form, line, and texture was experimented on with this sketch. All the lines were drawn horizontally and I eliminated the vertical line. My inspiration for this series were illustrations from the collection of Leonardo Da Vinci shown at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA.
19.Title: “Dapple Horse Study.”
Medium: Ink-Gouache
Year: 2017
Description:(no text to allow a pause for the viewer)
20.Title: “Trinity.”
Medium: Ink
Year: 2010
Description: A triptych of a religious experience was hand-drawn with only horizontal lines. This piece was the most important artwork in my art practice. The technicalities and attention to detail with the figures, birds, and insects within the artwork allowed me to shift my perspective of my ability.