Stomping Grounds: Senior Seminar Highlights Show
Rosa Nunez
My work is rooted in nostalgia as I piece together memories from my childhood to make paintings that reflect my past. I grew up in a four-bedroom house with my four older brothers and parents. With seven of us, my home was chaotic as we all figured out how to coexist in a space. My home was loud, disorderly, and felt suffocating at times, yet, as my parents are preparing to sell my childhood home, I have begun grappling with new feelings of loss. My work explores the longing for a time, place, and feeling that can never be entirely recaptured.
I composite observational sketches, digital photos, and personal family pictures from scrapbooks to create large-scale paintings. With this, I am never painting a singular moment; all my references are blended to create an environment that defies the rules of time and space. Instead, my work focuses on the emotionality and nostalgia that an environment evokes. This allows me to experiment with color, favoring saturated highlights and shadows of complementary tones to mimic the warmth and coolness of memory.
As I experimented more with color, I was pushed to explore the physicality of paint. I fell in love with painting loosely and boldly, letting washes of color, drips of paint, and textural marks shine through to the final result. Leaving bits and pieces of my paintings unrendered showcases my process while simultaneously unifying my built environment. The directional quality of my brushstrokes aims to guide the eye across my paintings, drawing viewers into the sea of lines. My paintings aim to evoke a sense of comfort in viewers. I want to celebrate my home as I am leaving it behind.