Statement
Painting has been a way to document my personal journey and evolution. Fragments of my own story took form in visuals and by sharing this, it then became a way to connect with others and transform this exploration. For a long while during my time in Panama, I felt trapped on this imaginary bridge connecting past, present and future, unsure about how to proceed and how to reach the spiritual enlightenment I needed to accept my true identity. I knew I needed Rather than repress this felt confine, I worked to create a safety of my own through painting.
Much of my work channels my inspiration not only by my travels, but by the significant role the women in my life as well as natural elements have had in my upbringing. My appreciation of nature is representative of personal growth and a therapeutic environment that has come about organically from such shifts. In San Francisco, the roots of Twisted Coastal Tea Trees, which seem to infinitely grow, inspire my sense of change and evolution. The female subjects of my paintings comment on a celebration of home that stems from self-identity, history, geography and finding light in the darkness.
Through various series, I recognize the importance of development that, alongside each other, come together to form my story. Ripping Layers (2018) employs a technique that is at once creative and physical, but also quite metaphorical. As a way of representing my own layers of emotions and change, my technique is founded on layering sheets of paper and tearing them to reveal what’s underneath in an evolution of each drawing. When I created the work Leave Fears Behind and Fly, for example, I was in the midst of leaving a multinational architectural company that I spent years working for. Caught By Her Own Demon explores uncertainty, imprisonment and liberation I felt while paying a short visit to Panama. Creating this piece was a way for me to deal with a discomfort of reality itself. I made Rebirth thinking about the path that connects darkness to light. I believe we can experience rebirth several times, throughout the same lifetime, although it depends on our ability to reinvent ourselves, assimilate the positive aspects of change and make them our own.
Biography
Joset Medina was born 1984 in San Cristobal, Venezuela. He graduated with a degree in architecture from the Universidad Del Táchira in Venezuela and then moved to Panama (2008) to capitalize on the rapidly growing architecture and construction industry. In Panama, Joset continued to explore his aesthetic vision creating new works imbued with emotion, energy, integrating it into nature and his own particular palette of vibrant colors. Joset’s talents in art and architecture quickly became noticed and his works were shown in some of Panama’s most prominent exhibitions such as Macrofest, Casa Cor, and several magazines and newspapers in Panama. With all this emerging success, Joset still knew that Panama was a stepping stone towards his future life and leveraged this success towards the next journey in his life.
In 2014 Joset traveled to California where he immediately stepped into San Francisco’s lively art scene. Here he found hope in new and unexpected adventures with an untethered sense of freedom to release the pressure and anxieties he was carrying with him back in Panama. He was determined to have San Francisco as his new home and began planning his return.
Back in Panama Joset knew that it was no longer his home and so he left and went to Spain. In Spain, he continued to find inspiration and opportunities to travel, exhibit, and to create. He was invited to Italy where he was one of the featured artists at the cultural event “Spirito Nuovo Venezia”. Returning to Spain, Joset was able to leave a lasting impression in Spain with a permanent painting at the main Cultural center in Talavera de la Reina, Spain where once again he found recognition via news and magazine coverage of his works and exhibition “La Belleza de Cambio.”
In 2017 he received his O-1 Visa (Extraordinary Ability in Arts & Design) to come to the United States and start a new phase of his journey in San Francisco. His first year in San Francisco afforded him a period to reflect and achieve a new level of personal discovery as well a beautifully nostalgic trip to Asia. In Asia, he found peace and harmony within its people that was balanced into dramatic landscapes and scenery. The beauty of it all immediately inspired him to create some of his latest pieces.
Currently Joset lives in San Francisco with his husband Robert Wiesner, and he keeps creating his artwork while in parallel he continues working in interior architecture.