Traverse Waters (study)

Artist: Teran, Sergio b.1974

Date: 2023

Medium: Ink on paper

Artwork Dimensions: 22 x 30 in.

County Department: Arts and Culture

Artwork Site: Civic Art Storage

Current Status: In storage

About the Artwork: This artwork is a study for Sergio Teran's monoprint artworks commissioned for the Public Defender's Office. In that work, the boat is a vessel that enables humans to travel the world, symbolizing freedom, but one that requires the investment of time, knowledge, and labor to become a reality. The Artist seeks to empower individuals to transcend their present circumstances.

About the Artist: Sergio Teran (b.1974, Los Angeles) graduated with a BFA from Art Center College of Design and an MA in Studio Art from New York University. He lives and works in Los Angeles where he is also an Associate Professor of Art at Cerritos College. Teran's studio process filters divergent memories, real and imagined places and current events with cultural symbology from everyday life and reassembles them into richly painted narrative tableaus. For the past 20 years, his paintings have investigated the particularities of a specific cultural identity, originating from intensely personal reflections that are elaborated through a struggle with process and material to elevate representations of a Mexican American experience. Sergio's work has been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Southwest Museum of Art, and the Vincent Price Museum, who holds a piece in their permanent collection. Angels Gate Cultural Center, Avenue 50 Studio, and Nielsen Gallery (Boston), The University of Connecticut, and Taste like Chicken Art Space, in Brooklyn, NY.