"Blue"
Receive the Blue.
Accomplish the Blue.
Be suspended in the Blue.
Greet and be greeted by the Blue.
Carry the Blue.
Witness the Blue.
The Blue inhales and exhales: anything is Blue.
January 2020
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Slides
This body of work sketches around the idea of movement and what its potential could look like. Symbols of continuous movement are fragmented, or paused, suspended, frozen, cut off, isolated, and blinded. Fragmenting images of movement is a peculiar idea to me; it almost seems surreal to understand something moving and not moving at the same time, and in a way this series seems to visualize philosophical ideas about how movement could be understood.
The idea of movement presented as the slide is an especially interesting motif for me. The entire ‘journey’ of movement is literally presented at the line that constructs the slide itself—from the top of the slide that continues to the bottom, the decline presents the immediate direction where an object would travel. To me, this is a hauntingly beautiful image—forever able to predict the direction of movement, and ever-present as a gesture, a static ‘ghost-movement’.
January 2018
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Painting of Thoughts
Painting of what we think of in split seconds, not of monumental matters. Painting not of complete concepts, painting of subconscious thoughts, half thoughts, (seemingly) whole thoughts, unreal or fake thoughts, or impossibilities. Painting of garbage, half moments, whole moments, complete and incomplete memories, bits of consciousness.
The ancient people made cave paintings of their most prized achievements, not of their mistakes, failures, or silly thoughts. Mine are paintings about half ideas, sometimes often the paintings are not planned or studied compositionally prior, but they are nonetheless THOUGHT OF, even accidentally (as the mind runs in ways we cannot often steer): painting that might celebrate mere THINKING, the human brain: concepts that are made in split seconds, not months, and then executed into a physical work of art, that is a manifestation of THOUGHT.
Painting of what we think of in a split second, not of monumental matters. What if we were to paint how a bird thinks? WATER, WARM, COLD, DANGER. Or just as unimaginable, how the first evolving humans thought, apes, not through concepts, but through pure instinct. We have these thoughts as modern humans, but they are deemed silly and incomplete. No, they are almost necessary. Walk, ouch, stomach ache, loud noise: these are building blocks to real and necessary concepts that painting is only one medium to try to capture.
April 2017
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Why and Why Not
Is there such a thing as exaggerating?
Take a shortcut.
What do you mean?
Say what you mean.
Why do you act crazy?
I sometimes apologize.
I wrote your name down as ":)". I hope you like that :)
September 2016
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Write An Artist Statement With The Word ‘Me’ Or ‘I’ In It, Or Both
Thank you for complimenting me:
You like me, I like you.
Make me feel warm.
I choose to think coldly, I can use a microwave.
Let me put a band-aid on it. Fuck band-aids, let’s do it Old School.
Have a speech impediment so people will talk to you less.
Cry at the sunset. Thank you for finishing my sentence.
Have fun, let go.
let’s talk about
french kissing.
The food fell to the floor:
It’s important to listen to birds.
Remain
anonymous. Make a mess.
Remind me of nothing.
There is such a thing as War-risk insurance.
Who could have predicted reality tv?
* * * * *
What if instead of a logical artist statement we decided to write thoughts, or sentences, that go through our heads when making art. This is not poetry per se, this is a form of idea communication, just as the conventional artist statement was intended.
July 2016
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The Raw Skeleton
Exploring a raw extension of figurative expression we must use 'poor' materials and loose drawing, in every description of those methods. The subject of the ‘raw, poor’ human can describe people and their relationships in the 21st-century disposable culture. These figures are necessary. These gestures are us, the garbage comes from us: we can see ourselves in the reflection of the cardboard. These figures are not detail-oriented, nor perfectly rendered: they are an extension of ourselves. A fragmented look into our souls on a canvas, and we become integrated into the picture. They are us. Broken, smiling, flirting, sometimes barely there, but perfectly recognizable to be there. These are sensitive works of humans, even in rugged form, they must be us.
An arsenal of media finds it necessary to use pieces of garbage in this art. Because they are not garbage, they are indeed the rawest skeleton of our past: a white canvas is nothing more than a polished piece of garbage, a skeleton with a tie. No, I acknowledge this skeleton has a voice, and I want to help it tell our story.
April 2015
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Less Than A First Draft (Testing)
This short piece (1000 words) of critical writing entitled Less Than A First Draft (Testing) was written as part of the artist in residence program at Robert Kananaj Gallery in January of 2015. It is a brisk, meditative dotting of Oscar Figueroa's ideas in written form—a chance to read fragments of his visual thinking, what Robert Kananaj informally described as "made of fractions, hours, days/nights ... ."
Copies of this piece of writing can be acquired through RKG.
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Correctability, Correct Ability
Yes that is right.
Yes, That Is (also,,, Right )
Somethingchangeable, evolutionary—in a decisive way (to correct). And (then the second pair appears/disappears> as almost the same meaning as the first, but they can be slightly different, they can be completelyDifferennt.
It suggests more about being "able,," to be correct... But there is no "correctness" in my work, there is only satisfaction—being "able" to FEEL correct
December 2014
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Translated Statement
| arises | of | making | known | should |
| am | be | not | is | in |
| like | create | effect | calls | act |
| increase | numbing | defamiliarize | develops | build |
| results | excreting | comprehensible | incomprehensible | speak |
| enter | connects | identify | follow | grasp |
| repulsed | understand | becomes | seen | experienced |
| know | meet | struggle | contribute | show |
| do | recording | concentrated | born | lead |
| presented | push | self-reflective | factual | make |
| are | interpretations | translation | thinking | survive |
April 2014 |
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The Landmark; A Private Experience and a Necessary Presence
The landmark asks questions about you.
What do I perceive?
What I have created is my perception and my questions.
What shall I do, and what shall I see, and see and do again? And keep? And remember? That is what’s important to me.
Land mark experience
December 2013
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The Essential Mystery in Art
Mystery, curiosity, identification with yourself: the misguided path, a path of discovery and self-coordination. The possibility of learning. The possibility of getting lost. The possibility of not finding a way in or finding a way out.
It is not a lack of thought, nor a lack of focus. It is not too vague, it is descriptive. Not too elaborate, it is focused. It is not undefined; it is definitely defined; although sometimes defined as “undefined.”
An art that inspires and offers a simple AND complex rhetorical question. With experiences through extra-visual languages; beyond visual art, it is an aural art. Poetry through temporary experiences.
October 2013
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Untitled Statement
A life (and with thoughts) of contradiction and repetition.
A thinking body of certainty. A body of limits, boundaries, and unawareness—with multiple repetitions, each one slightly different than the last.
A life of decisions and indecisions, all made in the state of unawareness or what can be thought to be awareness.
Of memory aroused both voluntarily and involuntarily.
The only life we know now and that only life we cannot know now. That endless experience behind me and ahead of me.
That clarity that is nothing more than ‘less-blurry,’ living with indecisiveness and risk, and fear.
A person that guesses—that instability for choice—for flexibility and choice.
A person that struggles to search, to know what is necessary and unnecessary. A person that reflects indecision. A life that imitates the planned and unplanned life.
A life of what we want to call concentration, but is not possible because of our desire to be human. A flawed life.
December 2012
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