Psychic Self-Defense
Jean Sandoval

I am a Mexican-born, Texas-raised artist. My constant state is that of being overwhelmed and overthinking. Contemporary society provides no relief. To gain some respite I resort to maladaptive daydreaming fueled by my exploration of history, philosophy and myths. What draws me here is similar to a coyote curious about a village fire from a far away distance. I am interested in the people, their flames. What drives them and how their shadows reflect subconscious desires, dreams, and intrusive thoughts. I want to capture that intensity, that humor, that rage using my own worlds and myth. Creating scenes reflected on the things in our reality using paintings, sculptures, or the combination of the two.I would like these scenes to feel like portals into other worlds. Those portals are captured in acrylic with additional pieces of our “real,” world in them such as crushed up flowers, tobacco, and sand. I want the texture to feel like the paintings are bubbling subtly towards us.

Sculptures are made of recycled and collaged materials because I find that I have a pareidoliac way of looking at random objects and materials that normally cannot be recycled or reused properly. I want to see new life in objects of refuse and also feel like I have some illusory control of my effect on the environment.

This ritual of physically recreating these scenes, to me, is a form of psychic self-defense against ever looming existential threats and the stress of contemporary living.