Santana Jimenez

Genesis & Revelation

Class of: 2024

Major: Photography BFA

Medium: Paint on Plastic Tarp

Faculty: Charlotte Schulz

Prompt: Pick an artist as a mentor and make a work of our own as if we were them.

For this project, we were asked to research and understand our artist mentor and then create a piece as if we were them. When thinking about my creation, I wanted to pick up where I felt Keith Haring left off in life and include an homage to his earlier life. I originally wanted to show a sad and happy face to represent these two parts of his life, but I later revised that to a more subtle dog figure reflected on both sides. Keith stands in the middle reaching for a heart he can’t quite obtain, commenting on his journals when he wrote about never feeling loved. I also wanted to do in Keith’s style a mural but could not get a wall space. So instead, I referenced his Art In Transit series, where he painted on tarps. I found a black tarp material and used this. I cut it to 72×72 and painted it with acrylic and a paint pen for the linework. It has been fascinating researching Keith’s life and creating work based on this. He was an incredibly creative and kind person who gave back as much as possible and cared about children’s creativity growth. I found a deep connection to him, so stepping into his shoes and creating work in his style showed me even more about who he was and who I am. I also worked as he did, with music blasting.