Title of Work: Mamá
Date: 2019
Medium: Oil on black velvet
Dimensions: 36 inches by 30 inches
Painted by Enrique Felix in Tijuana, Mexico
This painting is based on a photograph of my mother to commemorate her fifteenth birthday. With these black velvet paintings, I explore my family's displacement from Nicaragua due to a communist revolution and the ensuing feelings of exclusion and dislocation upon arrival in the United States. Each painting takes a journey originating in Tijuana, where they are assembled and painted, and crosses the border to arrive in Los Angeles.
Canvas became widely used as a surface to paint on during the Italian Renaissance. Academic painting from the 17th century to the 19th century also used canvas. Canvas is still widely used by artists and collected by art institutions. Black velvet paintings are generally excluded from exhibitions and collections of the same institutions.
Canvas became widely used as a surface to paint on during the Italian Renaissance. Academic painting from the 17th century to the 19th century also used canvas. Canvas is still widely used by artists and collected by art institutions. Black velvet paintings are generally excluded from exhibitions and collections of the same institutions.
