Honeymoon
Joaquin Godines
→BFA ILL 2027
Within my work, I try to create worlds that mirror my own personal relationships with queerness, vulnerability, judgment, sexuality, and identity. I then incorporate elements of fantasy, surrealism, and costumes. These additions help me understand my thoughts and anxieties without having to confront them directly. I call this part of my work “sugarcoating.” I sugarcoat the worlds and narratives I paint. In Honeymoon, I wanted to show a one-sided relationship, where the unmasked character lets himself become fully attached to the masked figure—a vampire. This idea of sacrificing oneself for the love of another is shown through the small vampire bite on the neck of the unmasked character; he has left his own world to be seen by the masked figure. Within this world of desire and longing, I use the elements of vampires and a storybook-like landscape to make my own fears of love and desire palatable not just to the viewer, but also myself.
Since my work is very tied to my personal fears and experiences, I rely mainly on working with my imagination, so I can craft a world authentic to my needs. Since my work explores my ideas of vulnerability and perception, I enjoy adding lighting that resembles the harsh beams within stage lighting. These lights are used within the theater to bring attention to something important. It’s fun to play with this idea of perception in unnatural or personal spaces. In Honeymoon, the figures embrace on the grassy field, but this large, stage-like light beams across them. That once personal and intimate scene now becomes the forefront for anyone to look at. The viewer is now able to make their own judgments, assumptions, or stories within this world. The sharp shadows cast behind objects or figures is something I love to work with because it’s so challenging, because I’m working with my own imagination. I have to imagine how the figure’s shadow would be cast with this artificial lighting.
If I am ever not getting these shadows right, I will use an old Barbie doll and a desk lamp to understand them.
I usually turn to my childhood or past as inspiration. In the world built in Honeymoon, I found myself going back to The Wizard of Oz. I used to be fascinated by how Dorothy was able to escape her own world and enter a new one of magic and color. I constantly reference elements of that movie. When looking at Honeymoon, you’ll start to notice the landscape feeling like Kansas right before or after the tornado.
Joaquin Godines is collecting twigs and branches that seem to hold magic.