words in painting

Earlier this year, I started incorporating written text within the layers of my work. The paintings often start out with pours and drips, and I write with oil stick after the first couple layers. The words are both in English and Spanish and interchange from word to word and sentence to sentence. I grew up in a family environment where English was the primary language at home, but at large family gatherings Spanish was spoken. I have a limited ability to speak Spanish, and there are still some  awkward moments with extended family members who don't speak English.

The words I write in the layers tell stories, label, and describe emotions related to the imagery in the painting. Switching languages, confronts the process of translation. By repeating the same word such as "Ojo, Eye" written over the eye of a portrait, I suggest that perspective can be filtered through language.  The use of this kind of written narrative suggests my mixed identity, and the complexity of meaning in language. 

Detail from Ojo in Cuarto

Ojo in Cuarto, 48x36in, oil on canvas

Pecho and Shoulder Study

Pecho and Shoulder Study. o/c, by Daniel Ochoa

Smile, Sonrisa

Smile, Sonrisa, 48x36in, oil on canvas

Stricoff Fine Art

Stricoff Fine Art, group show pictures

Stricoff Fine Art, group show in New York City.

Artists include
Aileen Chong, David Janssen, Kevin Kearns and Daniel Ochoa

On view till October 19th.

Poets and Artists Magazine

Poets and Artists Magazine recently did an issue called "IN PURSUIT". I collaborated with Erika Moya. Below is a link to the publication and you can find our collaboration on pages 80-83.

Link to Poets and Artists Magazine "IN PURSUIT"

This is the painting I included and below is a small section from Moya's poem

"The streets are adopting silence this night

Arches below arches
a tailored vein
a name, a street

shell stiffens like a mask
beneath the skin, coins are placed"

Here is a link to more of Erika Moya's work.

The pixel in painting

Cambio Self Retrato, 48x36in, oil on canvas by Daniel Ochoa

Recently, I began incorporating pixel emulation in my work. This came about because I read The Post Modern Turn by Best and Kellner. The reading prompted me to question the formal qualities in my work. The realistic depiction of objects and abstract techniques are both identified with modern artists. I saw the pixel as a sign of the postmodern because it did not exist before the 1960's, which as the authors suggest is when the post modern turn began to take place.

When I was in high school in 1998, I took a photography class using 'real film' and learned how to develop the film with a chemical process. I used traditional cameras for about five more years and saw the transition to digital cameras. Now in 2010, almost all imagery in television, computer, and cameras use pixel technology to produce images. I use digital cameras exclusively and rely on digital software to view, edit and print the images I prepare for paintings. By incorporating the suggestion of pixels in my work, I am appropriating a product of technology that permeates our environment. In my work, I explore how to pluralize perspectives and the destruction of the hi-res or 'real looking' image to the pixel re-identifies the perception of the imagery.

The pixelated photo above is a reference I used for the painting "Cambio Self Retrato".

Group Show at Stricoff Fine Art

Group Show at Stricoff Fine Art in New Your City

Oct 7-19th
Opening reception October 7th 6-8pm

Ojos See, 60x34in, oil on canvas

Se Llama Modernist Impressionist

Se Llama Modernist Impressionist, 24x18in, oil on canvas

Brooklyln Extranjero and Space in Caurto

New work at Hallway Gallery in Bellevue, Washington.

Brooklyn Extranjero, 18x14in, oil on canvas
Space in Cuarto, 36x24in, Oil on canvas

Hallway Gallery

Drawings: Group Exhibition at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.
http://principlegallery.com/
here are two drawings of mine that are included in the show.