View Artwork

Artist Statement

‘A drop of amber, from the weeping plant,

Fell unexpected, and embalm’d an ant;

The little insect we so much condemn

Is, from a worthless ant, become a gem’

(Rev. R. Graves, from Martial Epigrams, Book vi, Epigram XV)

The core of my present work is how media and modernism have influenced us to the point of creating idols of cartoon characters. Contemporary lifestyles have forced television onto kid’s lives more than ever before. These “idols” come to fulfill every child’s yearning for icons, heroes and heroines. I was captivated by the idea of how these personas become icons because of their eternal quality, mythological resemblance or re-incarnation, as in the case of Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman, to name a few. Amber as metaphor for the preservation of ideas comes from the fact that I grew up next to the amber mines of Dominican Republic. The amber is photographed close up or microscopically to see what is not visible to the naked eye. This I see as metaphor for what transfers as subliminal information to us via the media; the hidden details of everyday things or ideas.  Astonished over the marvel of each “frozen little drama” inside the resin, you come across preserved organisms that will live forever as a window to the past. I associate this magic with animation personalities because the characteristics of each archetype keep repeating themselves throughout time. There is a timeless, jewel-like value to these characters because they are a legacy passed on from parents and grandparents to children; they are venerated and are part of our family unit and environment as Saints or “Santos” are in Latin American cultures. They answer every parent’s prayer for free time and every child’s fantastic archetype identity: even more, they have become our babysitters. Therefore, we idealize them in a sacred way.