Artist Bio

Analee Fuentes (b. 1954) is a painter whose work reflects her Latina

cultural identity. She and her three older sisters were raised by her mother

in San Diego, California. A third-generation Chicana, her maternal

grandfather was a tailor and her grandmother, a homemaker.

Her early childhood years were spent in National City and Barrio Logan, communities whose hidden wealth lies in their rich ethnic diversity and strong sense of community. It was there that she was exposed to the art of graffiti and community murals. During the following decades of civil rights, the Chicano movement, feminism, and the Vietnam war, she began to make art.

Having immigrated to Oregon from California in 1982, Fuentes received

her B.F.A. in painting and drawing from the University of Oregon in 1994.

She then received her Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Arizona in

1996. On living in Oregon, she says, “The Northwest has a distinct cultural history laced with stories of immigration and racial movements; most emphasize the Eastward route led by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. My awareness of the influx to our region is different, focusing more on the Northwest movement, the ongoing movement from Atzlan, the current “Oregon Trail.” It is more like the swirling of a living river than a wagon

train. Here is where Sasquach meets El Chupacabra, where Chalupas are

not little boats, but something one eats at Taco Time. The ever-growing presence of a Latino community has given me a larger audience for my expression, one that understands my own artistic references.”

Fuentes cites her influences as José Guadalupe Posada, Frida Kahlo, Diego Velázquez, and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Artist’s Statement.  Del Corazon (By Heart)

Fish, reptiles and birds have been a focus of close observation throughout my life: they are my “totem” animals. The images in this exhibit reflect a certain nostalgia for growing up in the Southwest where the landscape was a riot of light and color and my cultural artifacts (woven textiles and embroidery) were profuse with rich patterning and repetition. It seems only natural that upon moving to Oregon, a similar aesthetic would inform my work. I gravitate to things that are ornate, excessive, overdone, colorful, and patterned.

During the summer months I spend much of my time in the Cascades and have been enthralled by the beauty of the fish that live in our rivers and lakes.  They are Baroque little jewels, so little in fact, that I wanted to oblige a viewer to take note by increasing their size. Straddling abstraction and representation, these paintings are the result.

Painting is the compass by which I orient myself to daily experience. The process is as close to a mystical experience as I have had. It is an act of discovery, a journey through legend, mystery, and magic. I am currently working on a series that explores the over-the-top aesthetic with which I grew up, and reexamines the possibilities of “excess.” I’m juxtaposing cartouche and nagual (animal spirit) imagery in hopes of melding new ideas.

Analee