ARTIST OF THE WEEK
 Joachim West (Michael Joachim Westfried Soriano), a first-generation American of Spanish-Jewish descent, was born in Connecticut in 1985 and currently resides in Galveston, Texas. Joachim earned an MFA in Producción Artística from La Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in Spain and a BA in Art & Performance from The University of Texas at Dallas.   Joachim's work has at times captured the attention of the press both nationally and internationally. His work has appeared on CBS News, Artnet, the Dallas Morning News, The Independent, D Magazine, The Dallas Observer, Arts & Culture as well as numerous other publications. Joachim's work was included in a tribute show to Lee Baxter Davis at the Meadows Museum of Art, an artist whose teaching has produced artists such as Trenton Doyle Hancock, Gary Panter, Robyn O’neil and Georganne Deen. Joachim has shown internationally and has been included in the Huntington Art Exhibition twice. He has been selected for solo shows, group and juried exhibitions in both the United States and outside of the United States, including exhibitions curated by Trenton Doyle Hancock, Wouter Van Loo, Benito Huerta, Aaron Parazette and Joan Davidow. His work was recently chosen for La Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo Emergente Eve-Maria Zimmermann in Spain.   The "Mother Earth Is a Dirty Whore" series of drawings and paintings is focused on metaphor and meaning. Strongly influenced by the spirit of social critique evident in the Fallas of Valencia, a city where Joachim has deep roots and is currently living, this project is concerned with questions about the human proclivity towards violence and a criticism of contemporary society. Joachim’s graphic work is also informed by a variety of influences from the Gothic, Byzantine and Northern Renaissance classics to the infamous generation of the ‘East Texas Lizard Cult’ mentored by Lee Baxter Davis, a well-known group of contemporary artists to which his mentor Greg Metz belongs. German Expressionists like George Grosz and Otto Dix; and, especially, Goya’s ‘Los Caprichos’ have had a tremendous influence on the format and tone of this series. Website: www.joachimwest.com   Comments are closed.
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