ALVARO (AL) ROJAS

I am interested in creating images and form without any pre-conception of the outcome. The works are process oriented and I let the intermediate results guide me to a finish work. To generate images, I start by floating various liquid mediums, such as ink, acrylic ink, watercolors, and acrylics in water on a vertical pane of glass, manipulating the effects and adding (drawing or painting) or removing (scratching/ripping) areas of the work in process. To start, I primarily use an eye dropper to place the liquid mediums on the glass, trying to be as controlled as possible to create areas that can be used to build space, images, buildings or figures. If the medium gets out of control, I scratch/etch it to make lines and forms, eventually developing a complete composition.

The composition develops from floating the acrylic ink and letting time and gravity start the creative process. As the “puddles” dry, I can visualize what the next step is and take it step by step, bringing outline, figure(s), background/foreground and space.

Once I have finished with the wet process, I cover the results with a clear acrylic medium. Once the acrylic medium dries up, I cut it up into additional shapes, paint over it and lift it from the glass for further painting on the back side prior to mounting it on a Plexiglas panel or paper.

My works attempt at balancing the abstract with the representational, colorful at times with geometric forms to assist in putting order to the composition. Due to what seems as a chaotic process, I tend to produce primarily abstract imagery, but as I control the process and get better at it, I have been able to produce representational/figurative images, primarily human figures.

I was influenced by a number of 20th-century movements, primarily cubism, and sub-realism; these periods in art have shaped my imagery. Abstract expressionism and other later movements have influenced the process of my works, giving me the freedom to experiment with a limited number of materials to create compositions seen by my mind’s eye.