#raelisvasquez

[supportblackart]

@raelis 🎨 “Seth en el Apartamento de mis Padres” 30” x 40” Oil, acrylic and oil stick on canvas 2020 On view at @newimageart #SupportBlackArt #RaelisVasquez #AfrolatinxArtist #OilandAcrylic #ArtonCanvas #FigurativeArt #ArtLovers #Painting https://www.instagram.com/p/CF9tx4Oh4Z7/?igshid=z1c4iqvkdztn

[somelitrato]

Reference photo by Raelis Vasquez #2020 #sb27 #acrylic #portrait #face #art #artph #artistsofsea #mabuhayartists #illustration #somelitrato #artwork #raelisvasquez https://www.instagram.com/p/CFE2MjKB4LE/?igshid=16z3p1ojp0niv

[claire-desjardins-art]

Meet Raelis Vasquez (@raelis). He lives in New Jersey, and is doing a Masters program at Columbia University in NYC. You can find his art on his website. Visit his profile to click on his bio link. PAINTING: Cómo Siempre (2020), Oil on canvas. Please swipe sideways to view progress! 🖤🖤🖤🖤 #RaelisVasquez #Painter #Artist #StreetScene #Painting https://www.instagram.com/p/CA_dRSJpa0q/?igshid=12jwdi53hda48

[coolculturegram]

Afro-Dominican Artist Raelis Vasquez’s Paintings are Figurative Compositions That Conjure the Complexity of the Afro-Latinx Experience

In celebration of #BlackHistoryMonth, we had the honor of interviewing Afro-Dominican artist Raelis Vasquez on Black artists he admires, the need for art in children's lives, using art as a storytelling tool and more.

1) Please name 2-3 Black, African-American and/or Afro-Latinx artists (preferably visual artists, but could also be a poet or author, etc) past or present that you respect/admire and why.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby- Her works deal with the importance of representation. She is a Nigerian woman who is married to a white American man and her complex works often explore her complex narrative of dealing with being from multiple places at once. The transfer method that she uses allows the viewer to be rewarded the more they look at her work.

Barkley Hendrix- This incredible artist has greatly contributed to black portraiture and conceptualism. His best-known works are large life-size painted portraits of Black Americans.

2) Why did you choose to use the arts as a tool for telling stories of Afro-Latinx people/communities?

I am not sure that I did the choosing of art to tell my stories. I think it is a calling in my case. Art has allowed me to speak in ways that language never could. I naturally fell into it from the moment I arrived in America in 2002.

3) What do you hope to accomplish through your art?

I hope to represent my Immigrant, Latino and African Diasporic communities with my art. I hope to do this with great vulnerability and honesty.

4) How were the arts nurtured in your childhood and how can caregivers and/or schools better nurture a child's interest in the arts?

Well, I wouldn't say that the arts were nurtured in my childhood. Like most children, I just doodled and used my creativity to have fun. I continued to do this in a more serious manner as a teen and as an adolescent. It is something that was mine and served no purpose other than to serve my creative interest and help me understand and work through things that I was going through.I think caregivers and schools could encourage kids to continue their creative experience. I think the problem is that as children grow up, they begin to see the arts as a frivolous endeavor and that is both something that is learned and a mistake.

To learn more about Raelis Vasquez and his work, please visit:

https://www.raelisvasquez.com/

https://www.instagram.com/raelis/

https://www.facebook.com/RaelisV/

To learn more about Cool Culture, please visit:

https://www.coolculture.org/cc/index.html

[bandofvices]

On the road this weekend with some dynamic Artists, including Raelis Vasquez, Lisa Diane Wedgeworth, Miles Regis and Sharon Louise Barnes... . @raelis @ldwstudio @milesregis @sharonbarnes4702. . For inquiries, pls email us Gallery@BandofVices. . #RaelisVasquez #LisaDianeWedgeworth #MilesRegis #SharonLouiseBarnes #Art2You #BandofVices (at The Battery) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtlpJHlFLDj/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=fslhallx1fzr