About Rocío
I always thought that painting was a random act, but thinking twice, I corrected myself after realizing it was not random given that my father is a graphic artist and my grandmother was an oil painter. Well, I can conclude then that it was their influence and destiny itself that brought me to the same path. It is true that it started as a hobby to kill time. But since I never take things lightly, I kept painting in a more serious way.
My MLA thesis was a projecton masks that included a set of ten oil paintings. This project taught me that it is not that I like painting but rather that painting likes me. It is thrilling to explore with form and color until I find results.My influences come from Mexican Muralism and Kahlo's Surrealism. I am not attached to a particular subject matter but to the interpretative strength of a culture through color, the tracing of an image and human expression.
Mexican Art is not characteristically romantic but rather necessarily realist and dramatic. It is there were I believe I search for my own identity as an artist.
Rocio Balleza
MLA '05, University of Chicago