Spotlight Artist

Adrian Aguirre

West
Artist profile photo

Jenn fi ak chwal

Girl in pink dress stands in water; person on horseback in background on dry grass.

oil on canvas

Manman ak pitit gason

Officer on horseback chasing two adults and a child in a grassy field.

oil on paper board

Patwouy cheval

Man in uniform on horseback crossing a shallow river, approaching a person in the water.

oil on canvas

Featured in New American Paintings1 / 3

Artist Statement

 
My work expresses solidarity with immigrants and refugees by forging emotional connections between viewer and subject. I travel to camps and border communities, integrating news images with my own drawings and paintings to underscore the realities of enforcement. I aim to depict moments that are both familiar and unsettling. Whether showing a makeshift soccer field, a man washing with a water bottle, or life-worn eyes looking ahead, I invite viewers to imagine themselves in these scenes and feel empathy beyond the headlines.

I favor an open-ended approach grounded in formal exploration and expressive realism. I weave highly rendered passages with rough, energetic marks, using color strategically to highlight areas of focus. The interplay of finished and unfinished elements keeps the composition open and dynamic, inviting the viewer to complete the image in their own mind.

I am deeply inspired by James Baldwin’s fearless prose and moral clarity, which showed me that creative expression can be a powerful catalyst for social awareness. This belief underpins my commitment to using art as a tool for engagement and transformation.

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