Africa Experience Panel I Drawing

Art, like our universe, has an infinite amount of meanings. To me, art is the elixir of life because it gives me the joy to live. Art is the essence of my existence. I was born in La Paz, Bolivia, and at the age of ten, I emigrated with my family to St. Louis. From an early age, art and painting was always with me. I formalized my art education at SIUE-Edwardsville where I studied mathematics and sculpture and received my BFA in 1978. After many years in St. Louis, I returned to Bolivia for six years painting murals across the country during the nation’s most significant cultural and political movements with the election of Evo Morales Amya. I created many commissioned works ranging from small murals for private patrons to large-scale, political and social art murals financed by international embassies, universities, and government departments in Bolivia. Now, back in St Louis, I continue to expand my portfolio with several commissioned murals including public art works for SIUE’s Art and Design Department, St Louis Art Museum, Craft Alliance, St. Louis Juvenile Detention Center. Better Family Life - Art and Empowerment Mural due to be completed May2016 http://www.kmov.com/story/30950197/imagine-a-better-st-louis-mural-honors-african-american-history. My next project will be a collaboration with the Missouri History Museum. You can view all of my murals on my website at HYPERLINK "http://www.gonzjove.com" www.gonzjove.com. I see murals as expressions of the world in which we live. They create a visual language that transcends time and create visual dialogues of social, cultural, and sometimes controversial issues that develop a shared social conscience. My function, as the artist, is to communicate these stories with the license of art. My knowledge of sculpting and mathematics has also given me a keen eye for design and detail that I’ve utilized for over 30 years in my murals. All of my work has a precise mathematical foundation to them to the point that my art becomes a science. Because we all have multiple narratives running through our lives, I make a conscious decision to bring multi-dimensional elements into my work by incorporating sometimes up to four to seven different focal points in my murals. The wonder and universal beauty of humanity is also a common theme in much of my work.