Miguel Resendiz

Inspired by the proliferation of images of bones, whether in the glamorization of forensic anthropology and archaeology in the media or in the broad visibility of bones in natural history museums, I seek to draw attention to the beauty of bones. I see bones as artifacts of nature’s engineering: these complex, vacuous forms serve multiple functions from protection and stability to storage. Not only do they store blood and minerals, but they also store information as old as thousands of years ago. Teetering between abstraction and naturalism, using both my technical and expressive drawing tendencies, I reduce bone forms to their aesthetic quality. This repetitive, additive and reductive, drawing and painting process results in a visual landscape that requires the excavation of their forms, on the part of both the viewer and the maker.

Bones do not have to immediately evoke death: they can also recall life. I inject into my compositions as much of that dynamism and liveliness as possible.

 

About the artist:

Miguel Resendiz received three Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Maryland (UMD), in studio art, anthropology, art history, and archaeology, with honors in studio art and art history in 2021. He also received an Associate of Science in Electrical Engineering from Montgomery College. In 2020, his work was selected for the inaugural Winter Juried Student Exhibition at UMD’s Stamp Gallery. Resendiz has worked as a gallery guide or conservation intern for several art institutions in the Washington DC area, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and The Phillips Collection. In 2017, he launched the Gallery Guide program at VisArts after being an intern for one semester. His background in the sciences, arts, and humanities are constantly interwoven in his work.

 

Skolios

2020

Graphite, charcoal, conte, wax pastel, and oil pastel on art board

18” x 30”

 

Scealu

2020

Acrylic, oil pastel, and charcoal on canvas

40” x 30”

 

Mostodon I

2020

Mixed media on paper

24” x 18”

 

Mastodon II

2020

Mixed media on paper

24” x 18”

 

 

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