A Comfort In The End Art Exhibit
Featuring Visual Arts Professors:
- Professor Tori Quemada, MAE
- Professor Mark Anthony Martinez, MFA
A Comfort In The End is a two-person exhibition, featuring works that speak to the inevitability of change.
Here, Professors Tori Quemada, MAE and Mark Anthony Martinez, MFA; combine concepts from two separate bodies of work that encourage their audiences to brace for inevitable change. Changes that can come with health scares, evolving relationships, or even growth! Acknowledging that change is not necessarily a bad thing; but to recognize change as a fact of life that we must all contend with – however it arrives.
Through Quemada’s animal portraits, the photos are taken in the final days (sometimes moments) of a subject’s life. Here, moments of strength and care are captured before the ultimate passing of the beloved pet. Quemada solemnly renders in black and white, a testament of an enduring love beyond the animal’s lifetime.
Additionally, this exhibition also highlights joys of reflection and potential for evolution after a moment of crisis or grief.
This can be seen in Martinez’ “asteroid forms” wherein these forms are rendered in neon magenta. A color that, while intense, can be perceived as festive and attention grabbing – intended to root an audience in their present moment. Indeed, the forms themselves may remind an audience of a certain food item enjoyed in youth (the hint being the boot shape).
The hope of the exhibition is that we share levity behind a phenomenon so heavy as change.
The end after all is just another beginning.