Veronica De Jesus

Roll Up Project is pleased to present two large-scale works on paper by Veronica de Jesus. De Jesus explores the connections humans make to each other and to objects. She presents personal perspectives that reflect complex topics which everyone faces. Topics such as safety, navigation through life, identity, and loss. Viewers can easily approach and explore her drawings, which are often peppered with text, then dive deeper and reflect on the work’s message.

Two Identitys investigates De Jesus’s experience with identity and personality. Growing up, her family moved often. De Jesus gained a deep understanding of the ways we can change, conceal, and adapt the many facets of our identities. Some happen naturally, and others can be changed from within.

In De Jesus’s own words:

Spaces and our Identities can be repurposed and redefined.

 

You may go into a building you once spent your childhood in to return 20 years later
To discover the building is completely different.

 

A lot of our land was once water, we have built land on top of it.

 

People have a lot of different sides to them. Our identity may be different at work as oppose to being at home.

 

I have found that our identity can be what we make of it. But it’s challenging because society has set certain identity models and we seem to want to stick within those confines.

 

Space is also what you want to make of it. You can alter a room at a moment’s notice.

 

Two Identities both in spaces and in people.

 

Space is always changing. Our Identities and our spaces have the Potential to grow to morph to change into anything we want.

 

There is never just one way to view a space or apery. There will always be at least two ID’s for any situation whether it be your identity or a space you are occupying.

Veronica De Jesus is a visual artist whose work has been exhibited in solo shows in Chelsea, San Francisco, and Atlanta. She earned a BFA at the San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA at UC Berkeley. For over a decade, De Jesus has worked with artists with disabilities. She is currently creating an arts and exhibition program for United Cerebral Palsy of Los Angeles. Her forthcoming book, People Are a light to Love, Memorial Drawings 2004 – 2016, is available through RITE Editions.

De Jesus will be concurrently exhibiting work at Anglim Gilbert Gallery and Berkeley Art Museum’s MATRIX Gallery. Here are the details:

Two ID’s
October 28 – November 25, 2017
Anglim Gilbert Gallery
1275 Minnesota St., San Francisco
opening reception: Saturday, October 28, 4 – 7 pm

Matrix 268
October 25 – February 26, 2017
BAMPFA
2155 Center Street, Berkeley