30.03.2014 02:05:40

Juan Medina was born in Mexico City in 1950.

Medina is an artist who works on a grand scale. His

paintings have been exhibited throughout Mexico and the

Unites States, including in such cities as San Francisco, Los

Angeles, New York, Seattle and New Orleans.

One is immediately struck by the extraordinary three-

dimensional effect Medina achieves in his paintings. His use

of trompe l’oeil is startling as architectural elements seem to

project from the picture plane. Placed in these seemingly

concrete settings are figures that appear at once to be of the

flesh and of the spirit. Medina’s imagery stems from the

subconscious and raises questions about pour perceptions of

spatial and chronological reality.

His winged figures suggest a quality of existence found in

the “artistic a spirit”, a spirit desirous to free itself from

material concerns of day-to–day existence. The winged

figure is the embodiment of the individual wanting to serve

as deeper, more intangible need inside himself; that of his

creativity and imagination.

In his paintings, Medina takes preconceived ideas of

reality and turns them inside out; much like Alice

experienced through the looking glass. He utilizes

numerous references to artistic and architectural styles

throughout history. These elements, in juxtaposition with

contemporary models raise issues of the relativity of time.

He also creates doubt in perception of spatial reality as

figures seem to break through the composition's borders

and occupy another dimension.