All the presentations so far have been great and I really appreciate this format of discovering new artists through peer presentations. For this week's blog post I decided to focus on the presentation on Brenda Barrios by Armando Perez. Armando was very organized and clear in his presentation and I thought the pieces he chose to showcase were all very interesting and relevant to current issues. In terms of the artist, the fact that Barrios is a fellow Bruin caught my attention and makes me very impressed and honored to be among such talented peers. Another aspect that I found cool was that while the art was explicit in its messaging the artist includes subtle details and colors to still lean into the emotions of the audience and evoke a certain feeling. The medicare for all piece is interesting in that it is somewhat stripped down compared to other pieces. The background is a soft green color, there is only a single figure in the frame and there is some plant life in the foreground, importantly though, split down the middle by the central figure is a message that reads "Medicare for all". Although the piece is stripped down by simply depicting a figure in gloves, mask, and using a broom with the "Medicare for all" slogan above the artist brings up a lot of social, economic, and institutional issues. While the "Medicare for all piece" is visually simple it does not lack detail, for example, there is a subtle juxtaposition between the sterile cleaning supplies and protective gear worn by the central figure and the plant life that surrounds them that I feel does an excellent job of bringing issues like environmentalism into the conversation, by perhaps pointing out that preventing further environmental damage is a critical step in improving healthcare and expanding access to healthcare.
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