A quick discussion with our next featured artist Brian Martinez

JW. Tell me about one of the pieces.

BM. One of my personal favorites is, Las Flores del Jardín EstánMuertas. Which translates to The Flowers in the Garden Are Dead. I was in my first semester at CSN coming home on the bus one afternoon, just slowly realizing everything that was part of my life in high school was slowly fading away. I was stressing over a long-term relationship, stressing over school, stressing about whether art is the route to take or not, and doubting myself at every corner. I remember feeling a numbness that overpowered my whole body, and this painting was my interpretation of that moment. The black was used to silhouette the portrait in order to represent that overpowering feeling. There is also brighter colors in the painting, only because I wanted to represent the beauty that is life. Sometimes we feel engulfed by our own life issues, and forget we even get this chance to live one. This idea had been in the back of my head for so long, and it was awesome getting to finally put paint down and make it come to life.