Portfolio 3
I create mixed media artworks, primarily street art through my illustrations. In a search for new methods to create a voice for my own self-identity, I often produce work using bold graphics and highly saturated colors in reference to pop culture and its dominant authority over representation. In this case, the principal technique of individualism relies heavily on cartooning.
In that context, my mixed media artworks demonstrate the subject of race and its reflections amongst my life primarily through character and hue. The materials for my series of works consist of screen prints with watercolor monographs and pastel, making the presence of color a substantial factor in evoking emotional weight. However, these colors are contained and highly concentrated as masses of hair, illustrating the prominence of racial identity through my own cultural makeup and where it is most sensed.
In regards to personal experience, my works are inspired primarily by my own experience as a young mestiza. Mestiza, in Latin America, refers to a woman of mixed race, especially the offspring of a Spaniard and someone of European descent. In Borderlands/La Frontera, Anzaldúa describes this tedium of agony of being mixed through “internalized rage and contempt, one part of the self (the accusatory, persecutory, judgmental) using defense strategies against another part of the sold (the object of contempt)”. Throughout her scholastic practices, she recalls: “Most of this goes unconsciously; we only know that we are hurting, we suspect that there is something ‘wrong’ with us, something fundamentally ‘wrong’” (67), referring to her third world identity and tongue.
Predominantly inspired by storybook illustrations and multicultural authors (Gloria Anzaldúa, Gabriel García Márquez; etc), I relate to my contemporaries through their message of self-acceptance by dividing colors from text. The text symbolizes my confliction with the self while the colors represent my recognition. With all elements put into consideration, the series of works portray my approach to self-love and pride for my ethnic background and the sensations which carried me to that maturity.
Portfolio 2
I create mixed media artworks, primarily street art through my illustrations. In a search for new methods to create a voice for urban minorities, I often produce work using bold graphics and highly saturated colors in reference to pop culture and its dominant authority over representation.
In that context, my mixed media artworks demonstrate the subject of race and its reflections amongst gentrified environments primarily through the figure. The materials for my series of works consist of a collograph print with magenta oil-based ink and decorative paper, alluding to Kehinde Wiley’s “Renaissance” paintings of urban minorities and Morimura’s appropriation photographs. However, these prints are demonstrated over a form of expressionism, placing a primitive stencil onto a layered coat of oil paint, acrylic, colored pencil and crayon.
In regards to personal experience, my works are inspired primarily by the Syrian Civil War and its relativity amongst my closest families. The woman, which the collograph depicts, originated from an image of a Syrian refugee settled amongst a mound of destruction. I wanted to take her identity and refine it, contrary to mass media coverage, placing her gallant appearance against an artificial, but almost impressionistic representation of prosperity. The colors, which I chose carefully over the decorative paper, are heavily enthused by Monet’s Water Lilies, which signify a sanctuary into a peaceful meditation.
Like previous street artists before my work, from Swoon to C215 and Escif to Banksy, I relate to my contemporaries through their message, vibrant colors and audacious stencil technique. Connecting to their common message of political activism, my art seeks to reach out to those disenfranchised by the television and newspaper outlets. All such works retain the physical capability for the demonstration of wheat pasting, relating to the art form’s historical reputation of rebelling against authority.
Portfolio 1
Shelby Peake (1995, Pasadena, United States) creates mixed media artworks, primarily street art and films. In a search for new methods to create a voice for urban minorities, Peake often produces work using bold illustrations and highly saturated colors in reference to pop culture and its prevailing authority over representation. With a personal awareness of the consequences that arise from social hierarchies and their dogmatic circumstances, her work acts as a tool for activism and celebration of the self within specific borough settings.
In that context, Peake’s mixed media artworks demonstrate the subject of race and its reflections amongst gentrified environments primarily through portraiture, contrast in wordplay and location. The materials for her works primarily consist of screen printing with acrylic ink and the method of wheat pasting, alluding to flypost propaganda and commercialism. These wheat pastings are often demonstrated in the form of vandalism or graffiti, often relating to the art form’s historical reputation of rebelling against authority.
In mention to revolution, her works are characterized by the use of caricature in an atmosphere of middleclass mentality in which acknowledgement of urban renewal plays a significant role. By taking daily life as subject matter while manipulating the everyday aesthetic of middle class values, her works references to the post-colonial as a form of resistance against the logic of the capitalist market system. As an artist raised up by multiculturalism and a keen sentience to mass media, Peake explores the contradictions of both race and pop culture within modern-day stereotypes and establishments.
Like previous street artists before her, from Swoon to C215 and Escif to Banksy, Peake relates to her contemporaries through aesthetic charm, vibrant colors and audacious stencil technique. Connecting to their common message of political activism, her art seeks to reach out to those disenfranchised amongst an era of gentrification and economic disparity. With that said, Peake’s art emphasizes predominantly the topic of race and class, from what is seen as attainable to the very illusion of wealth within culture.
Shelby Peake currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
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