Rigo Maldonado
Hard to Swallow, 2008
Serigraph, Ed. 78
26”x20”

Hard to Swallow is part of Homombre, a collection of silkscreen prints by ten artists that explore the diverse realities, cultures, and struggles of gay Latino men. This self-portrait aims to portray agency within the topic of domestic abuse. The bluebird in the artist’s mouth symbolizes hopefulness as well as a loss of innocence; and the eyes show an expression of pain as well as power. Maldonado aims to present the victim of abuse as one who has the power to accept or reject, to swallow or spit out.

“Maldonado is a mixed-media contemporary artist form Santa Ana, CA.  Born in the shadow of Disneyland, his art fabricates hyperreal and contradictory environments that explore Mexican cultural traditon, counter-memory, social amnesia and navigating spaces.  Always with a wink and nod toward the ironic and excessive, Maldonado confronts his audiences with complex social issues thorugh playful spatial and material manipulations. His work have been exhibited in China, France and through the US.   Maldonado co-curated the ground breaking "Hijas de Juparez" exhibit at SPARC.  His narrative on bringing soical awareness to femicides through art and activism has ben published in "Making a Killing: Femicide, Free Trade, and La Frontera by the University of Texas Press. “