About Jeff Medina's Art “It’s what lights the world that interests me.” Jeff Medina Jeff Medina’s paintings contain their own life force. His exhibition, “Portraits of Thoughts,” is currently on display at the University Gallery on the UTPA campus. A controlled technique and counterpoint composition of layers offer viewers a satisfying visual journey. Medina’s paintings may be described as paintings of thoughts. At first glance, the paintings appear to be totally abstract, devoid of associative object or figure. But on closer observation, subtle figures appear. He is offering an interpretation of the formation of thought/the impression of image. His canvases are often hauntingly beautiful. Medina demonstrates a masterful control of tonal and restrained chromatic contrasts. Although these works depict people standing walking, interacting, or simply posing, they are created from tonal changes and a framework that allows you to see through the outlines. The colors behind are meant to represent ideas. The colors sometimes identify the figures. The framework occurs like a jumble of Chinese writing gone wrong. The sensory ambiance registers somewhere between a Byzantine spirituality and a comic narrative from outer space. The combination results in a rich visual experience. What really interests this artist is what lies behind the figures. Medina has achieved the illusion of transparent layers without physical transparency. His sensitive treatment of the open spaces in the framework forms a suggestion of transparency without sacrificing the opaque shape. His layers embody an opaque treatment, but embrace an open space system more common to sculptural terminology. The painting, Walking in the Path of Ideas, reflects his concept of thoughts surrounding us. Four figures are suggested; their “heads,” acorn shaped, seem almost radioactive with a bright orange to yellow gradient. Their bodies seem to exist in another dimension; neutralized orange and yellows seem to drop back into space, denying the picture plane its flatness through softened contrasts. Medina’s gradient colors are meant to represent enlightened thought. Faces full of bold color represent people in a conventional state of mind. In Medina’s reality, circling spheres representing ideas and inspirations surround us. His painting, Full Circle but not a Conclusion, expresses the complexity of a thought process seeking resolution. Lines radiating in all directions attempt to emphasize the dynamics of thought seeking a conclusion. “One of the things I try to focus on is the world of ideas,” said Medina. “I try to raise as many features of our reality as possible. I try to keep a search for ideas and enlightenment. I represent it with colors. So even though there are many layers of possible thoughts, there are few that really pop out.” Beginning his painting efforts in Mexico more that twenty years ago, the artist increasingly became concerned with the meaning of his work. “As I became more involved in art, painter/craft, I started realizing that art was more than that. I had to get into the discipline of figuring out what was the meaning of Art by learning from those who have made a difference in the world of art.” To do this, Medina visited major art museums in the United States and Mexico. “If I wanted to pursue a more direct illustration of ideas,” commented Medina, “they would become illustrations, not paintings. I try to separate illustration from painting. That way viewers can interpret in their own way instead of my giving them everything all at once.” He does computer graphic work, which may contribute to his smoothly painted surfaces, but considers it separate from his painting. “I’m more into the traditional form of art, working hours on the canvas, and thinking and redoing,” he said. This art represents the search for ideas that surround us all the time, ideas and thoughts floating around us. Medina summarized his search by adding, “Some people see them, some people don’t.” Nancy Moyer, PhD, Art reviewer for Festiva Magazine. FAQ - Comments - Review What do you paint? If earth was covered with a huge blanket you would not be able to see all the activity going on in the world. In the same way but on the next level inward, I remove the features of the world to the bare minimum in order to see the activity behind it; the world of what I like to call thoughts. Thoughts in my canvas are represented in many ways such as; a variety of flying strokes, color gradients, color placed purposely in different layer levels, color interacting between shapes, color dwelling in different places and even color slipping over to the upper levels as if certain thoughts are revealed above the material world. So in a simple conclusion I paint that which lights the world: the activity of thoughts. Why are your characters’ head shaped as an acorn? Thoughts need a place to dwell in order to produce more thoughts, so my characters heads are actually a symbol for a vessel. Some vessels are strong to withstand deep understanding while other vessels are still in an elementary stage and have difficulty grasping complex thoughts. Why do you have so many layers of lines and noodles flying around? I believe thought activity is constantly producing all sorts of thought waves moving in all directions, I simply use many pictorial elements to represent them. I notice your character bodies are suggested but not defined, is there a reason to this approach? Well, like I said before, I try to focus on what lies in the background of things, and although I try to avoid defining objects, I still need to leave some minimal guideline to the observer; otherwise it may turn into an abstract painting, which is not my intention to do. Is your work trying to teach us something? I like to believe that an artist who opens new gates of awareness will somehow offer through his pictorial exploration something new to learn. Some people might find it in my work, others won’t. Will you be doing wall size paintings and sculptures? I would like to have the space to exhibit painting in those dimensions, and I hope I get an invitation to do so in the future, I think my type of work would do incredible in large formats. I am currently working on some metal pieces, it is very interesting to see the morphing of my pictorial language into a dimensional form. I hope to have my first series finished by the end of 2009. How have other artists influenced your work? Serious contemporary artist like myself do not tolerate boredom, we are constantly discovering new things. In my case I have learned from those who have come before me and those of my time, with the intention of understanding what has and is being done in order to disassociate my work from theirs. Is there a system to your paintings? I have a technique to paint but I don’t default to a formula of what I paint. I prefer to extract new ideas and make my work richer in my own pictorial language. What is your goal? I simply let my work unfold freely. I never know what’s ahead. Every new painting opens new possibilities, so I guess one thing I am always looking for is to expand and express the incredible world of thoughts; that which lights the world. Jeff Medina’s work can be summarized as paintings of thoughts. Although his compositions show people walking, standing, interacting or simply posing, Medina purposely outlines these scenes. By using a simple framework, he allows the viewer to see through the outlines and identify the colors behind them which represent ideas. He has no problem breaking his figurative elements because what really interests him is what lies behind. He has total control of complex color schemes. He juggles color with great dexterity as seen in his faces full of gradient colors that represent enlightment, and faces full of bold colors that represent people in a conventional state of mind. His paintings can be simple yet intricate; swirling lines layering one on top of another representing the complexities of life, circling spheres that represent ideas and inspirations surrounding us, loose lines radiating in all directions showing his attempt to put the forefront of matter aside. Some interpret his work as ideas and thoughts floating all around us. Others view his work as philosophical and sometimes spiritual. I think Medina’s painting are charged with all of these elements. More will be said of his work when new paintings are brought forward revealing more of his view of our reality. Anonymous Thoughts rescued from chaos and organized by the artist through a magnificent fusion of playful and stylized graffiti with a contemporary high-tech aesthetic. Maria Elena Macias Curator, International Museum of Art & Science