Fending Finds
Jennifer Mendez
About the Artist
I'm from Miami, FL and have recently graduated from Design & Architecture Senior High. I am currently serving with City Year Miami's Americorps Program before going off to college. City Year, an AmeriCorps program, unites 17-24 year olds for a year of full-time service as tutors, mentors and role models in urban schools and communities. I serve to give back to the community that shaped me. Many people don’t say they come from Miami but I believe I do. I hope to make a difference in a student’s life because I didn’t have the opportunity to learn from a positive role model.
Artist Statement
My enthrallment with creating stems from the study of human behavior in varying roles of interaction. I constantly enjoy including morbid narratives, which sometimes tend to be sarcastic or comical; these narratives are essentially my response to these studies of contact, which are sometimes more mythical than factual. The interaction between domesticators and the domesticated fuels my work. The fine line between what is socially acceptable in terms of interaction between humans and animals tends to play a major role in my work. Shifting from that starting point, I questioned the roles of women who acquire “domesticated indifference,” to the juxtaposition of “right” and “wrong” in wants and needs, as well as expectations. I focused on death and the difference of after-life depending on mammal, as well as perfection of the norm. My materials represent stereotypical feminine craft, to allude to my sardonic and comical view as a woman raised in a traditional Hispanic family.
Recently my work has focused on the displacement in the ideals and reality of the perfect home. Specifically I wonder about cases where a person’s genetic make-up and biology hinder their level of efficiency and thus dictate their success, and what they can attain. For example a businessman with IBS may not be promoted because he could be seen as unreliable at conferences, etc. Within these typical roles I questioned one of the possible role reversals between a benefactor and the unwilling donator of the benefits. These parasitic beings define the actions of their contributors. For example, a dog with fleas will not act as he usually does, the fleas that hinder him, also force him to comply with their needs. An old man I used to be neighbors with, who died in his apartment, has influenced other parts of my portfolio; he had many animals but no one to check up on him. The animals started starving after he passed. This brought upon a question—how often does this happen? The thin boundaries and limits of codependency interest me as well as the loyalty involved.
The work in my portfolio is what I had from AP Studio Art, I haven’t made work this year for many reasons. I hope people enjoy this last bit of my statement; it is the truest iota of words within this statement. More importantly I am no longer making art, it is selfish, and since the death of my father many things seem selfish. Even showing this work to you is selfish, I’m doing it for the reaction or connection, because college must be the answer nowadays, and grades and dedication, or proof of dedication are what get you in; but maybe you’ll like this.
About the Artist
I'm from Miami, FL and have recently graduated from Design & Architecture Senior High. I am currently serving with City Year Miami's Americorps Program before going off to college. City Year, an AmeriCorps program, unites 17-24 year olds for a year of full-time service as tutors, mentors and role models in urban schools and communities. I serve to give back to the community that shaped me. Many people don’t say they come from Miami but I believe I do. I hope to make a difference in a student’s life because I didn’t have the opportunity to learn from a positive role model.
Artist Statement
My enthrallment with creating stems from the study of human behavior in varying roles of interaction. I constantly enjoy including morbid narratives, which sometimes tend to be sarcastic or comical; these narratives are essentially my response to these studies of contact, which are sometimes more mythical than factual. The interaction between domesticators and the domesticated fuels my work. The fine line between what is socially acceptable in terms of interaction between humans and animals tends to play a major role in my work. Shifting from that starting point, I questioned the roles of women who acquire “domesticated indifference,” to the juxtaposition of “right” and “wrong” in wants and needs, as well as expectations. I focused on death and the difference of after-life depending on mammal, as well as perfection of the norm. My materials represent stereotypical feminine craft, to allude to my sardonic and comical view as a woman raised in a traditional Hispanic family.
Recently my work has focused on the displacement in the ideals and reality of the perfect home. Specifically I wonder about cases where a person’s genetic make-up and biology hinder their level of efficiency and thus dictate their success, and what they can attain. For example a businessman with IBS may not be promoted because he could be seen as unreliable at conferences, etc. Within these typical roles I questioned one of the possible role reversals between a benefactor and the unwilling donator of the benefits. These parasitic beings define the actions of their contributors. For example, a dog with fleas will not act as he usually does, the fleas that hinder him, also force him to comply with their needs. An old man I used to be neighbors with, who died in his apartment, has influenced other parts of my portfolio; he had many animals but no one to check up on him. The animals started starving after he passed. This brought upon a question—how often does this happen? The thin boundaries and limits of codependency interest me as well as the loyalty involved.
The work in my portfolio is what I had from AP Studio Art, I haven’t made work this year for many reasons. I hope people enjoy this last bit of my statement; it is the truest iota of words within this statement. More importantly I am no longer making art, it is selfish, and since the death of my father many things seem selfish. Even showing this work to you is selfish, I’m doing it for the reaction or connection, because college must be the answer nowadays, and grades and dedication, or proof of dedication are what get you in; but maybe you’ll like this.
