Born in Ventura, California and currently based in Miami Beach, Florida and New York, artist José Delgado Zúñiga received his BFA from the Otis College of Art and Design in 2015 and his MFA in painting from the University from Columbia in 2017. His work conveys “a rhythm of muralist sensibility” in its fusion of color and form, symbol and abstraction. Although it can be seen as exploring themes involving identity chicano, his work ultimately lies somewhere beyond the boundaries of a single idea or subject:
“I believe that nothing exists independently or in a vacuum; everything in this present moment results from previous and past relationships and phenomena. The notions in my paintings express the internal and external trauma and politics that occur inside and everywhere. The symbols inform my Mexican-American identity. Use the process of free association in content and form as a strategy for recalling moments and memories. Using the languages of abstraction and figurative painting as textures to express the distortions of perception placed by oppression. Accordingly, my compositions seek an illumination that can make sense of the shifting skeleton of borders; they are always dividing, accumulating, fracturing, connecting, twisting and piling up.
Check out more footage from “Into Me See” below. All images courtesy of Central Fine.
