"Cuatro Hombres", 2022

Acrylic, color pencil, latex paint, Sakura marker, oil pastel on canvas

30 x 40 inches

Fair Market Value: $1,100

Starting Bid: $770

Buy It Now: $1,650

JO ARCHULETA, from Kansas City, specializes in printmaking, film, and painting on canvas with acrylic, acrylic gouache, and color pencil. She will earn her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2024.

"My current project focuses on one figure painted in varying hues of pink, caught in a reflective memory of different eras of their life. The image is the idealized version of what that moment of time represents to them. I am playing around with setting and time to indicate seasons and to thread in themes of growth and reflection, while at the same time I am keeping color pallets and repeated symbols consistent throughout the body of work to stabilize the viewer and the subject in her universe. Themes of western and hispanic culture like cowboy hats and cowboy boots are prevalent in my current work; they stem from my characters 'The Bikini Cowboys' and 'Sunburn Babes' that appear in my paintings and film work. Being born in New Mexico and having a really interesting relationship with my hispanic heritage is an underlying element that I subtly poke at. The figures in my work are thrusted into their ideal environments, but don't always know if they are content or even safe. I play with this idea to capture the playful and joyful scenes, but they are filled with, and overshadow, the deeper conversations that are happening beneath the surface within all of us. How can one make the best out of their situation while at the same time using the act of joy as resistance? The use of material is experimental and pushes boundaries with three dimensional surfaces and bright fluorescent colors that sit next to each other to create energy and tension. I use traditional painting methods, but I also pipe on thick acrylic paint using a frosting piping tool to create thick textured lines of paint on the canvas. Film and printmaking are also heavily used in my practice. Copper etchings, relief, and silkscreen prints are methods I use to create preciousness around humor and nuance."