Verdadism - Soraida Martinez.

The word Verdadism was coined by Soraida Martinez to describe her hard-edge painting body of work. Her contemporary art style was created in 1992 and her work juxtaposes figurative abstract paintings with written social commentaries. This technique used is mixed media (with oil or acrylic on canvas paintings alongside written social statements). Much of the statements are based upon Soraida Martinez life experiences and observations. Her work addresses issues affecting American society from the late 20th century to present such as stereotyping, abortion, feminism, relationships, racism, and sexism. This is a very stimulating art style as there is so much meaning within the work which prompt tolerance and a deeper understanding of the human soul.

What Prejudice Looks Like (1993)

The figure in What Prejudice Looks Like embodies the unbalanced psyche of the prejudice human being. The arms which cross the neck of the figure show the strangling of the soul when it is prejudice. Initially the unusual appearance of the painting and the bright colours within it draw the viewer in. The separate blocks of colour make the audience engage with the image on a much higher level - although at first glance it is obvious that within the painting is a figure of a person, the viewer has to somewhat concentrate and put the shapes together to establish meaning within this picture. The text which anchors the painting also communicates on a more direct level the overall meaning and purpose of the painting.

The figure within the image clearly has unusual characteristics and is perhaps symbolic of the way in which prejudice people see people with a disfigurement. The unusual shapes and green sharp teeth somewhat signify the fact that prejudice is ugly, and to me as a viewer of the painting, the disproportionate shapes, sizes and coloured sections within the image which come together to create a figure with highly unusual features - which to a certain degree communicates to me that everyone is different and that different can be beautiful and colourful too.

Interracial Family: The Way Society Sees It (1992)

"This painting is about the second marriage of my mother to my stepfather, who died six years ago. My stepfather was a Puerto Rican of African ancestry, while my mother is a fair skin Puerto Rican of Spanish ancestry. As a teenager, I always liked to observe people and evaluate situations. I remember the looks they both got when they would walk into restaurants and other public places. But the worst part was when my stepfather was dying and I overheard a nurse joke to another nurse that she didn't know that my mother was his wife because "she's white and he's black." - (Soraida Martinez)

The two large figures within the painting portray different races, and the third smaller figure represents the union of these two different races. The child figure adds a great degree of meaning to the image as it represents the in balance and awkwardness with how society sees interracial relationships. This shows that size can be successfully used to not only establish an action narrative or for empowerment but to establish hidden meaning also. This painting creates the eerie feeling to the viewer which prejudiced people experience when they see two people of different races together. 

The figures are featured standing very close together, and also within the shapes you can see that they have their arms around one another. This creates some sort of 'stand' against colour prejudice - there is nothing wrong with interaction between those belonging to different races and I personally think that even at a first glance this is presented clearly within this painting.

As I live in a very mixed race city, I have decided that within my product it would be a good idea to include people from various races and backgrounds, perhaps making a discreet stand against social issues surrounding prejudice.