Mercedes Victoria, Artist from Oxford County, Ontario, CA
Mercedes Victoria Creating art is a way of expressing what I learn about myself, my life, and the world around me. It is a continuous journey of uncovering truths and reaching insight. The process begins with a realization which is translated into a concept and finally created and presented as a piece of art. It is my hope that my artwork will then have the ability to reach viewers on a very basic, raw, and honest level. I believe that it is important to work through tough thoughts and emotions that people normally want to ignore. This kind of blocking off can result in pieces of ourselves being locked up and becoming inaccessible, leaving us incomplete. Confronting these topics head on, however, can only make you stronger and deepen your knowledge and understanding of yourself which in turn enriches your life. I want to encourage viewers to step back and see the world and themselves from a different perspective. I hope that by doing this, the viewers will find doors that will show them how life works, develops, and eventually where life can lead them.
Drawing has always been an important part of my life. My introduction to the medium of chalk pastel has deepened my love of the process that is involved in creating art. Chalk pastel has the unique ability to sink into the depths of a piece of paper that regular pencils cannot obtain, while still offering the power of control because of it’s pencil-like form. There is a fine balance of power with this medium. It has the capability of producing a beautiful range in tone but at the same time is extremely demanding to work with. It requires great attention to detail as well as continual monitoring in order to avoid making a mess on the artwork with the residual dust from the chalk. This push and pull characteristic continually reminds me of life and the insights I am working with; life has great potential and power, but at the same time is extremely delicate and fragile. I approach this process with honesty and from there develop a piece of art that is open and truthful in it’s concept. Most of my chalk pastel drawings are done in a grey scale rather than colour. Working in grey-scale reminds me that my world is not black and white, which constantly impacts the way I approach and translate the concepts I work with.
My current exploration and series of works began as an unconscious study to understand the act of judgement. I became very aware of how I judged myself and slowly began to pull apart the threads of my conclusions. I then turned my attention to how I judge others and how society often creates a biased opinion that then becomes unquestionably accepted by individuals. I used this view point to build on my work in order to explore the act of judging others which encouraged my belief of the world being more than just black and white. Through these drawings, I began to understand how others view me and the process of forming opinions. My current drawings take a very upfront and truthful approach to this topic. They are difficult to ignore as they demand the viewers attention both physically and mentally; there is nothing to distract the viewer from the image conveying this concept. I want this exploration of judgement to be something difficult for the viewers to leave behind because I feel that this important topic needs to be dealt with in order to help reach reasonable conclusions and a solid basis of understanding about ourselves and our world.
Mercedes is a member of the Central Ontario Art Association, Artists of Oxford, The Woodstock Art Gallery, and a volunteer at The Woodstock Art Gallery. Her works have been accepted in several juried shows and has participated in a two man show and many group shows with many more to come in the future! She is available for commissioned work.
Please visit her website at: http://mschuste9.wix.com/artist
Email her directly: mercedesvs3@hotmail.com
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