Thesis Exhibition: April 16- April 19  

Reception: April 18, 5-8pm   

Transatlantic Event Horizon, 2024, Tar, fiber optic cable, acrylic on canvas, 84" x 72" 

Time out (Blinds), 2024, Paper pulp, ground glass, ink, acrylic, collage on canvas, 12" x 9" 

Artist Statement 

I work between painting, sculpture, and poetry, incorporating found material from my surroundings to depict landscapes through the social, political, and economic systems that produce them. Gravitating toward sites of transition such as open lots, train yards, and highway shoulders I form relationships through observation and writing. To prioritize the material realities of these sites, found objects act as generative prompts which transform through collage and gestural mark making. The result embodies landscapes as sites of hidden labor, political upheaval, and environmental disruption. 

My feelings toward a place create symbolic ties between material and process. Material is an active collaborator, allowing for chance and accidents to guide the result. Abrasion, staining, and rubbing fully incorporate all my materials into incongruous abstract surfaces, each holding a distinct record of time. 

Depictions of landscapes have always functioned as sites of projection. I appropriate this mode of operation to decenter narrative and foreground cycles of destruction and repair as landmarks of planetary time. Orienting ourselves with this time scale lets us navigate space as interconnected extensions of our planet rather than disparate individuals. This abstraction reconfigures fixed subjectivities and ideas of value, enabling more expansive, poetic forms of meaning. 

More information about Diego Juarez at www.diegojuarez.com

All photos credited to the artist.