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Expression
through line, form and color has always come natural
and easy for me. I have always drawn and colored in one fashion or
another. The decision to share my art work with the public
motivated me to try exhibiting in museums and galleries. I have
always felt as if I had something visually important to share.
Publicly I often feel shy & awkward but paint freed me to release
how I truly felt about myself- strong! And the absence in American
culture of visual statements that related to my own experiences in
life as a person of Puerto Rican descent in the Midwest became a
void I continue to feel drawn to fill.
I struggle daily as I paint with what the public wants me to paint.
Often my work is sidelined for Hispanic Heritage month.
It dissapoints me to no end and to me is a sign of a needed on going
dialogue of acceptance of difference in American galleries.
Layered
Meanings & Mid-Meanings
<why
you paint what you do (asked frequently) >
I keep journals of thoughts and sketches for paintings. Anything can
inspire me; the skyline of Chicago at night as I'm driving over the
Calumet River on the toll road, a billowing smoke stack at sunset in
my home town, an accidental over lap of image or idea that I
originally could see no correlation for, the story of a woman in a
paper that died from not being able to afford her blood pressure
medicine, auto factories & the stories of
all
the people around me who have worked there or have supplied
services or parts for cars, my own life full of work like waitressing,
janitor, lawn mowing, car lot attendant, meter collector, field work
in
corn and grapes, most of it full of drudgery and always low pay but
seasoned with wonderful co-workers. Things I've read like poetry by
Victor Hernandez Cruz & nikki giovanni. The deep connection I feel
to the art work created by African Americans of the Works Project
Administration from the Midwest during the 30's. The skin of a
mango, the color of a dollar bill. And sometimes dreams.
Though I
refuse to call myself a magic realist or a surrealist, the
dream holds a hidden source of layered meaning. I use dreams
only as a tool to explore meaning. The visual aspect of a dream is
dominant for me. I like to write down dreams and go back a year
later. I'm usually amazed at how puzzling or nonsensical some
dreams seemed at the moment, but now seem absolutely full of
meaning. Dreams are only one small influence on my paintings,
however. A lot of thought goes into them. Different kinds of dreams
that do not occur in my sleep guide me.
I consider
my paintings to be a certain kind of exploration of
"Mid-meaning". Being a minority amongst minorities (far fewer
Puerto Ricans than Chicanos), I have always had to understand
multiple cultures, languages, multiple meanings of Latino, multiple
meanings of being a woman (when I think of the roles my mother
grandmother and I have played because of gender, both in our
culture in our country). I think about the differences I experience
at
work and at school; how bosses, students, teachers and
employees appear to me and how I perceive others as both a
woman and a Puerto Rican. I think about our economic structure &
how hard most people work till the day they die yet still go without
health care, without suitable housing without adequate
transportation without enough work without adequate education
without sufficient food, an irony in this supposed country of
abundance, this country where hard work is supposedly rewarded. I
question this assumption by my experience, the experience of
friends and family around me.
Something's
I paint seem light and fun and they at first hit you that
way, but as time goes on you see other things in the paintings like
spirits or a darkness, another reality beneath the surface. In the
dark paintings you'll usually find visual symbols specific to my
culture as well as the world around me of hope, resilience,
strength. Life holds endless possibilities of meaning to paint and
finishing a painting, knowing when it's done, is the most difficult
for
me. I never have a difficult time starting one though!
Theresa
Rosado
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