Professor’s Latino-inspired art on display at Blackbridge
The show features the works of art professor Sandra Trujillo. The show is a rite of passage for all new art faculty after a year at GCSU. It shows students and faculty the professor’s perspective and style of art.
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“Churros Locos” puts a new spin on Spanish festival masks, called los gigantes (giants) and cabezudos (big heads), which are usually made of papier-m?ché. Los gigantes wore the masks while walking on stilts, but los cabezudos wore the masks alone. They are normally humorous depictions of peasants, kings, queens and other figures. By creating them using various ceramic materials and techniques, Trujillo makes the masks her own, updating the subjects depicted to comment on today’s world.
“The show was definitely inspired by thinking of those large heads and seeing what they would be like on a larger scale,” Trujillo said.
Her artistic process begins with a drawing with a cast of characters and a story behind them. From the drawing, the images are transferred to a ceramic surface to be painted and fired in the kiln. The sketches that inspired the main pieces are also on display, showing the viewer the six months of hard work that went into the collection.
The name “Churros Locos” came from the festival atmosphere that Trujillo’s work exudes. A churro is a fried cornmeal dessert that can be covered with cinnamon or chocolate; it is often served at carnivals, parades and other celebrations. By associating the food with the artwork, Trujillo augments the connection with Latino culture.
“I wanted to take this idea of these carnival figures and realize them in ceramic,” Trujillo said.
Some of the pieces are from a previous collection of work dealing with the relationship between portraiture and patronage.
“I still consider them to be portraits, but I think they’re maps of something larger than myself,” she said.
Trujillo’s art also makes statements about politics and current events.
A piece titled “Gold-Plated Farewell” is her statement on corporate greed. Black paint seeps from underneath the shimmering gold veneer to create the look of oil.
“I called it ‘Gold-Plated Farewell’ to talk about some of the excesses of the banking institutions.this is a heavier statement than most of (the pieces),” Trujillo said.
One preliminary drawing displayed in the exhibit is titled “Dear Sonny,” and is a satirical depiction of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s plea to Georgians to pray for rain. This drawing led to the ceramic piece titled “Cold Water,” commenting on the water shortage in Georgia. “Cold Water” utilizes a glaze that runs down the length of the piece, resembling water.
Despite some of the heavy political implications, visitors can still be amused. Humor is an essential part of her art, from the subject matter to the name “Churros Locos.”
“My belief is that the scale makes them humorous. In adopting this tradition, from which to begin my new work, I wanted to gain that sense of humor with ceramic sculpture,” Trujillo wrote in her artist’s statement.
The show will be on display through Feb. 6 in the Blackbridge Hall art gallery. The show is free and open to the public.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Jan 23 2009. Filed under Features.
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