Title of Work: Segundo Cumpleaños
Date: 2018
Medium: Oil on black velvet, framed
Dimensions: 36 inches by 24 inches
Painted by Enrique Felix in Tijuana, Mexico
This black velvet painting is based on a photograph of me celebrating my second 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.
