This website and all images herein are © 2010-2011 Berenice Badillo. All rights reserved

Art Work Gallery

Over the years I have created art in various scales. As a young woman I concentrated on painting as big as I could as a way to scream out the images trapped in my head. As I became older and my experiences more defined I began to create smaller, more detailed pieces that brought to me a deeper process. I no longer needed to scream, I needed to quiet down the angst and in my whisper I found strenght and peace.

My body of work often carries political themes and themes that deal with my inner turmoil. We all experience joy and pain, the ebb and flow of life and so my art is sometimes bright and sometimes dark. I started painting murals before I painted on canvas and  my art began to  evolved from the frantic quick strokes of necessity.These are some of the pieces that I have created over the years.

Murals

As a community muralist I have had the privilage to travel throughout the world with a variety of art groups. Mexico, Cuba, Peru and Japan are  just a few places that I was able to create murals with youth in their communities. As a community activist these murals enabled a voice for disfranchised youth and their communities. As a young woman I entered a male dominated world and attempted to climb the highest pillars to send my message of the need for change and social movement. These images often displayed  the communities' rich culture.

I do on occasion  continue to paint large portable special treated canvas paintings (or murals) that can be hung on ceilings and on large walls. This method looks just like a regular mural with the benefit that it can be transported when the person moves from their home. I have samples per request. This method which is waterproof and durable was used in a mural I painted in 1997 in Chicano park where it still stands. At the time I was protesting Caltrans and their threat of destroying the historical murals in this park.  Cal Trans had put a stop to all mural painting and my crew and I stuck the mural on the seventy five foot pillar like a giant sticker. The beautiful and historic community of Logan heights embraced me, the cops came, city hall came, the media came and I  became the first woman in over thirty years to paint her own mural in the park. This fateful event propelled me to write grants to create  art progamming and murals in various communities throughout San Diego.

Portraits

I work primarily in acrylics but also have samples of work in oil, pastel and watercolor.

I love painting portraits as each line and shadow of each individual face provides me an rich and  deep story. Portraits capture a special time and energy in a person's life.

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