Cosmic Family

NFS

96” x 110”

It is a pastiche of Velasquez’s Las Meninas.

After painting for over 50 years, I am virtually an unknown artist; and yet continuously work to improve my art. I am a representational artist. As a sole provider for the family, I have been a commercial artist, illustrator, assistant to sculptor Luis Jimenez, advertising executive for a multi-national corporation, and designer / coordinator for a home builder. Most definitively, I served the community as arts advocate believing in the advancement of the Hispanic culture through the arts by organizing the National Association for Chicano Arts (NACA), which later became the Juntos Art Association -- a name change -- because many in the community did not identify with the label "Chicano". A number of the participating artists were renowned, like Manuel Acosta, Marta Arat, Luis Jimenez, or became renowned like Gaspar Enriquez. I helped found the XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest organization that served as fund raising arm for two monuments by Sculptor John Houser: "Fray Garcia de San Francisco" and the "Equestrian", the tallest bronze of its kind in the world installed at the El Paso International Airport. I served on the boards of organizations like Hispanic Leadership Institute; Sin Fronteras Organizing Project in support of the Centro de los Trabajadores Agricolos Fronterizos; and the Festival Internacional de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.

During the pandemic isolation, I decided to paint this large pastiche of Velasquez’s Las Meninas. It is never easy to describe dreams briefly, however, I will try putting into words what the intended idea of this painting is. I imagined a cosmic family in a multiverse, a universe of many, embodied in One. The painting motif is of a family traversing space and time at the speed of light through a threshold where the illusion of time-space vanishes. (This is my family representing diversity in actuality. ) It is a journey into realms where consciousnesses merge — from a dove to a distant star. The people portrayed are participators in an immense drama outside of the temporal world, a place of imagination and creative interactivity with endless possibilities. In an instance, their activities are momentarily interrupted by the sight of a mirrored Earth, an emergent twin on the other side of reality, poised ready to be born. One by one, they become aware of this magnificent sight, even the pets. To exist is to be aware. They feel no hostility or fear, only an immense acceptance and love. Their consciousnesses merge with this world, communicating with it and all its creatures. The conclave ends as a revelation becomes clear to the participants — their intents and concerns, their interests, their needs and desires, characteristics and abilities — have led them to this ideal place. It is the crossroads where dreams become real. It is where the universe is consciousness itself and you a part of it.