Pacific Coast
Spotlight Artist
Raul J. Mendez
Pacific Coast
Artist Statement
I am curious about people and their relationships with themselves, each other, and their surrounding world, as my main interest lies in probing the human condition. Observing the uneasy tensions between tragedy and comedy informs my work profoundly. As a result, the work takes on the roles of metaphor, parable or pun through the use of fragmented narratives that provide a viewer the before or after of a story without ever fully revealing what actually took place. This latest body of work was executed in order to examine the spaces we occupy, and the mindsets or mental states they imply. It subverts contemporary narratives with metaphors of absurdity and displacement; unlikely pairings like humor and horror, heroics and vulnerability, laughter and sadness, are confronted in an arena somewhere between the imagined and the observed.
Discover more artists from the Pacific Coast
THE MAGAZINE
Explore our magazine to discover exceptional artists

Call for Artists
Submit your work for consideration
New American Paintings is a juried exhibition-in-print and digital, presenting the work of 40 emerging artists in each issue.
Your gateway to new art
Discover tomorrow's art stars, today

PRINT + EARLY ACCESS DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION
$179/YEAR
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION
$99/YEAR OR $10/MONTH
Each issue of New American Paintings features forty artists selected through our juried competitions—presented in a beautifully curated, full-color publication. Subscribers receive six issues per year, plus exclusive online access to current and past editions. Are you a collector? Consider our premium subscription and receive our museum-quality printed publication + access to each new digital issue two weeks before its general release.







