Janet Montiel Self Portrait, Oil on Canvas Board, 16 x 12 in, 2020
Artwork Statement:
Having to grow in a household where I had to look over my shoulder for signs of sudden changes in my father's mood, I learned to focus on details. These details, being the first warning signs to my father's oncoming rage, also became my first step into seeing the world and how unique it could be.
Also having very limited financial resources growing up, my experiences outside Little Village (the community I grew up in), were limited. Growing up, I was also a very introverted and sheltered child, who found comfort and an escape in the visual and performing arts. Expressing myself through the use of any materials that I could get my hands on different surfaces, I began this playful, yet experimental, journey in the use of materials and the limits I could take them to.
As I was becoming more independent, exploring more of the city, and removing myself from the home situation, I would be more intrigued by the different people that I would encounter daily; specifically, the small differences that made each person unique. This interest led to the use of photography to document these differences.
In my current work, I use these past interests to create a self-portrait in which I depict myself in a serious manner using a photo of myself as a reference. The expression used in the self-portrait then comes into juxtaposition with the use of color in the form of oil paint, where the color choices used bring a playfulness which is lacking in the expression of the face.
Artist Bio:
Janet is an artist born and raised in Chicago whose practice focuses on drawing in graphite pencils, charcoal, soft pastels, markers, pens, and ink; painting in acrylic and oil paint; and photography. Oldest daughter born to Mexican immigrant parents in the Little Village area, she has always been interested in the arts and attending an elementary school with a vast focus in the arts, Janet's interest in art further grew after several trips to the National Museum of Mexican Art growing up. She has earned a BFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and currently works as a Part-Time Tutor in the Department of Art & Architecture at Harold Washington College.
Janet has exhibited work in a group show for her university's BFA Thesis Show called Where We (I) (You) (We) Could Be, where she showed a group of photographs documenting her family, specifically the young mothers and their children.