Erick Maldonado

Class of 2026

Art & Art History

My artwork explores my identity as a black Latinx queer. I use personal storytelling as a vehicle to engage contemporary concerns and invite others to find their own narrative through images. Each of the paintings in my portfolio are a response to concerns that were prevalent throughout the pandemic; mostly concerning the preservation of cultural history in the city of Lawrence of who I am native to. I considered the psychological aftermath of my community after many experienced displacement, lack of access to support systems, and the overwhelming uncertainty of our future experience. My art deconstructs the conditions of our survival within social frameworks of power. I am enlightened by my Dominican-American community and the vibrant flamboyancy that is expressed through our language, mannerisms, and fashion. I use bold colors fused with my personal history to create scenes that embrace our reality. My compositions are manipulated with mixed media and collage, oil and found materials creating an abstraction of different metaphors that often antagonize representational spaces.