Artist’s Statement

In my work I am primarily interested in exploring issues of social justice and popular culture especially as they relate to the social and cultural ambiguity underlying the experiences of the Latin American male.

Because of my training in architecture, my work often hint at the domesticity of a particular built environment. This environment combined with symbols, forms, and colors superimposed and buried into a surface portray time, and build an urban “Dominican-Joe” vernacular aesthetic.

My work reflects on the paradoxical nature of my life experiences as a first generation Dominican-American. As a naturalized citizen I lack the genuine American-ness of being natural born. In the Dominican Republic, I am considered strictly American; a sellout who lacks Caribbean ‘sabor’. In the United States, I am seen as a person with ambiguous racial origin alien to the natives. The more I understand these issues, the more I realize that neither of the cultures with which I identify wholly accepts me. Because neither culture readily accepts me, my art work often generate worlds where I am the protagonist.

The protagonist in my work come from places where hope and desperation live side-by-side. The work serves as a bridge between these contrasting worlds.