Artist Statement

At the beginning of my artistic career, I worked with monochromatic media, such as charcoal, but transitioned to paint in order to experiment with color. At the moment, colorful and vibrant portraits have caught my attention. This allows me to explore and learn more about color theory and how different colors can evoke different emotions. None of the current works are tied to each other as a series, but rather as experiments were I try to use color to my advantage and create different atmospheres for the pieces. This leaves the meaning of a painting or an illustration up to the viewer, which focuses that the aesthetic value is more important than the contextual aspect of my art.

Biography

Julissa Vega was born and raised in Mexico, in the town Colotlan, Jalisco along with three siblings. From an early age, Ms. Vega was surrounded by art and craftsmanship to follow in the examples from both parents, but due to low income, she was not able to receive proper art lessons. At age eleven, Ms. Vega and her family migrated to the United States and settled in San Jose, California. Her first proper art lesson was during high school in 2010, from there she continued exploring in the following years. During her time at San Jose State, she decided to become a studio practice major which allowed her to take various classes that facilitated her to learn more about art and different mediums outside from drawing and painting. At the moment, she is really interested in watercolor and printmaking, specifically block print. Some of the future plans include starting a website to sell current art and offer commissions to save for graduate school.