Trail of Hope and Tears - New Drawings by Oscar Camilo de las Flores

Description

De Las Flores’ new work, “Trail of Hope and Tears” is a series of seven large, Conte on paper, figurative works that presents a compendium of dense imagery in drawing.

These improvised scenarios from the historical past, the present, and the imagination interact in a convoluted narrative recreation. De Las Flores’ imagery is both grotesque and beautiful where the classical and the subconscious mingle together with sometimes overwhelming results.

His drawings depict figures, both real and imagined, that tell the story of an unending battle between society's powerless and powerful. With a dark sense of humor that is Flores' own, his work also shows the influence of generations of artists, integrating the grace and detail of early masters with the imagination of the Surrealists. The images pulsate with their own sense of life and urgency with references to literature, pop art, history and art history, while at the same time mocking and criticizing issues of representation, political discourse and other concepts of importance for the artist.

Though the content of his drawings often display a clear narrative, it is rare that Flores begins a piece with a plan for its full resolution. He may have a theme in mind at the start, but prefers to allow each drawing to develop itself, each figure or symbol deriving form and meaning from the one before it, until a narrative has found its way onto the page.

Flores is driven extensively by his surroundings. He is clear in voicing the use of his art as an outlet through which to comment on the condition of the world around him, and believes it is his duty to do so. Flores comments,

"As globalization and neo-colonialism occur alongside market structures that so adversely affect much of the third world, art has become for me the perfect method of voicing my most important concerns. It has also become a way of confronting and continuously analyzing my position as a citizen of the times.
Following the continuous tradition of western art, as well as that of my Latin American predecessors, I am keeping vigil as an artist and trying to record with keen eyes the psyche and the soul of this very important time."

Born into an era of Civil War in El Salvador, it is from a young age that Flores has been exposed to the volatile relations between the public and "unchecked powers." Because of his background, it is with special interest in Latin American history that Flores began using his drawings as a tool with which to communicate his ideas.

Oscar de Las Flores was born in Santa Ana, El Salvador, in 1975. He relocated twice with his family; to Guadalajara, Mexico, and Toronto,Canada. The artist currently lives in Oaxaca. He received his degree, with honors, from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1997, and has shown extensively in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

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