Left to right: Felipe Maldonado, Surface Patterns, 2019, Ceramic transfer, Courtesy of the artist; Adriana Flores, Stand Still My Child, Don’t Move My Child, Stand Still My Child (detail), 2018, Oil on canvas, 60 x 60 in. Courtesy of the artist
Nosotros: Adriana Flores and Felipe Maldonado
ArtLab Gallery
September 26 - November 7, 2019
Opening Reception and Artist Talk - Thursday, September 26, 5 -7pm
“We are the embodiment of the aspirations, the dreams of our parents and our abuelitos.”
– Gil Rocha-Rochelli
This year’s Reunion series presents FGCU Alumni Artists Adriana Flores (Class of 2017) and Felipe Maldonado (Class of 2016). The two American artists of Latino descent explore their heritage in Nosotros and express an appreciation for one’s origins, character, values and personal accomplishments. These culturally-diverse artists celebrate their lives as US citizens while acknowledging the histories and traditions of their familial roots.
Adriana Flores currently lives in Southwest Florida working in her studio and teaching art full-time. Her paintings are influenced by the chiaroscuro techniques of the old masters, such as Rembrandt, da Vinci, and Caravaggio. She concentrates heavily on light and shadows to push the feelings and emotions in her work. Flores’ inspiration comes from the people she interacts with daily and the happenings of everyday life to keep her paintings as authentic as possible. Being a mother and working in a title one elementary school, Adriana has experienced and witnessed the strength and courage mothers go through every day to care for their child. Her paintings are wonderfully candid moments in everyday life.
Felipe Maldonado is currently the Department Head and Ceramics teacher at North Fort Myers High School Center for the Arts and Media. He references social and cultural influences to understand his role in society while struggling to understand a more authentic perception of himself in his own life. His ceramic work is an based upon an abstraction of ideas and are represented through the use of color, pattern, and texture. In creating work for Nosotros, Maldonado has returned to the platter as a canvas for his work.
This exhibition and series continues to demonstrate the contribution of FGCU’s Art Program to the region.
Sponsored by the FGCU Alumni Association and WGCU Public Media
