Ortega 000107 478489 204230 9163

Tony Ortega - "La Troca Roja"

Hi, I am Tony Ortega a Denver area artist. I want to talk to you briefly about my current mixed media artwork “La Troca Roja.”

I asked the viewer why do people emigrate? Why do animals emigrate? We immigrate for better living conditions, for our families, to feed ourselves, and to better shelter ourselves. Every year, Latin Americans embarked on a journey in search for the American Dream. Many migrants leave their hometowns escaping poverty, gang violence, and or natural disasters. They leave behind their homes, and most of their belongings with hopes of seeking a better life in the United States. This journey is not easy many of them traveled thousands of miles just to reach the US/Mexico border. Several migrants who cross the border work in the service industry, and many become migrant farm workers who pick our fruits and vegetables. This type of labor is a thankless job that is physically hard, that requires long days in extreme weather conditions, low wages and sometimes working with dangerous farm equipment and or pesticides. At our dining tables, we should thank them for their labor and for providing us with many of our foods.

As an expressionist, I mix digital technology and drawing techniques to create and integrate the resulting designs into traditional printing making. This image “La Troca Roja” is an experimental print with hand coloring. With this artwork, I am exploring a multi-layered image with printmaking techniques such as lithography, silkscreen, and a monotype stencil process. Then, I use acrylic paint and acrylic markers to enhance and embellish the artwork. In my creative process, I used distortion and exaggeration for emotional effect. I apply vivid and dynamic colors by overlaying transparent colors on opaque colors and vice versa. I combine flat space with cubical space. This work interweaves, juxtaposes, and superimposes unlikely images from American and Mexican popular cultures that include icons, symbols, art history, and the modern world to foster opportunities for the bending of meaning.

To find out more about my work, please visit my website tonyortega.net. Thank you, I hope you have enjoyed hearing about my artwork.

Art of the State 2022: A Juried Exhibition of Colorado
  1. alpert+kahn - "the capacity of illumination"
  2. Judy Anderson - "The Sound of Trees"
  3. Julie Anderson - "Refugee"
  4. Finn Baker - "Where Stories Repeat Themselves"
  5. Tree Bernstein - "Once in a Blue Moon"
  6. Tonia Bonnell - "Unfolding (Blue)"
  7. Scottie Burgess - "Loaded Logo"
  8. Michael Campbell - "Wild Earth"
  9. Al Canner - "Octopod"
  10. Taiko Chandler - "Shades of Grey #1"
  11. Joelle Cicak - "Our Ladon"
  12. Neil Corman - "Balconies"
  13. William Day - "TOGETHERNESS"
  14. Terry Decker - "GARDEN OF THE GODS"
  15. Chris DeKnikker - "Reunion"
  16. Irene Delka McCray - "All This Time"
  17. Chapin Dimond - "Gold Mountain Ring (CDr310-ss/18kry)" and "CDr511-MG-18krySleeve"
  18. Thinh Dinh - "Yellow Clouds & Green Skies V.1"
  19. James Dixon - "Phone"
  20. Nathan Dominik - "Growing"
  21. Nancy Eastman - "Desert Storm"
  22. Melissa Furness - "Every cloud has a silver lining"
  23. Gayle Gerson - "Golden Hour"
  24. Jody Guralnick - "hydnum imbricatum"
  25. Jane Guthridge - "Dancing Color 16"
  26. Wendi Harford - "Melon Drop"
  27. Karen Haynes - "Drifting In and Out"
  28. Deborah Jang - "We're not in Kansas anymore"
  29. Marston A. Jaquis - "Hints & Allegations"
  30. Erick Johnson - "Snowflake Feather"
  31. Junomatico (Kristina Davies and Charlo Garcia Walterbach) - "Soul Play"
  32. Susan Kane - "Fruita Grain Elevator"
  33. Margaret Kasahara - "Notation 33-20" and "Notation 12-21" and "Notation 22-21"
  34. Gayla Lemke - "Oh Monday, Monday, how could you leave….?"
  35. Nancy Lovendahl - "Culture 1.0"
  36. Mark Lunning - "Yes, the World is round"
  37. James Makely - "Cuff 13"
  38. Terry Maker - "Living and Breathing"
  39. Raj Manickam - "Juniper's Last Gasp"
  40. Joseph Manuel - "3 Angles"
  41. Betsy Margolius - "Riverfront II"
  42. Tom Mazzullo - "Two-part Invention No. 18"
  43. Sarah McCormick - "withinland"
  44. Chuck McCoy - "Form One Configured"
  45. Amy Metier - "By The Waters"
  46. Grace Morris - "Sobering Effects"
  47. Meredith Nemirov - "RIVERS FEED THE TREES #463"
  48. Al Orahood - "Limon 3"
  49. Tony Ortega - "La Troca Roja"
  50. Roger Reutimann - "CYBER DROPPINGS"
  51. Eileen Roscina - "Iris"
  52. Craig Rouse - "A Monday Afternoon"
  53. Gregory Santos - "Oopsie"
  54. Heather Schulte - "The Impetus of US" and "Control-Alt-Delete"
  55. Evan Siegel - "Westy"
  56. Brady Smith - "Structures for Coping no. 13"
  57. Robert Smith - "Bulbous saggar vase"
  58. Sharon Strasburg - "Granite Altar 2"
  59. Autumn T. Thomas - "Eccentricity"
  60. Lucas Thomas - "Debris"
  61. Floyd Tunson - "Worker Bee"
  62. David van Buskirk - "Samadhi"
  63. Becky Wareing Steele - "Portal from the series Models for Future Altars"
  64. Christopher Warren - "Plowshares: Altered Colorado"
  65. Pamela Webb - "Grounding Twig Set - Necklace and Earrings"
  66. Mami Yamamoto - "Life With Countless Optimism"