Por El Sol in Montevideo, Uruguay

Melo Dominguez “Por El Sol” Acrylic on canvas 3.75ft x 5.8ft March, 2013

This piece is representative of all that I strive to promote and speak about through my artwork and service projects. The Mexican free-tail bats underneath Campbell bridge inspired me; the
female bats migrate from Mexico to give birth to pups here in the U.S.

During my projects the past few years in speaking with
scientist I’ve learned that many species as well as humans migrate through the Sonoran Desert. Animals such as bear, deer, jaguar, wolves, and many others have migrated this path for centuries. I painted the border fence because it has
changed and disrupted the natural migration route.

The chile was painted to represent a few things; local agriculture, the effects of higher temperatures has on growing produce, and because they don’t eat chile in
Uruguay I thought I’d paint a little chile and give her a spicy
attitude.

The water flow in this piece represents what I learned from Biosphere 2 about the “LEO” project. Landscape Evolution Observatory.

The cornfield represents the roots of my culture & community and the renewal of soil. The ants represent our ancestors & working together.

Glady’s
the tree, represents my certification in Urban Forestry from the Tucson Botanical Gardens. Urban Forestry taught me about our native
trees, the importance of our urban tree canopy, how the trees clean the air of CO2 for free, and so much more.

Thinking about current events and how we can clean
the air of CO2. I created a drone that does not watch nor kill. I call this
drone RNWM 1 (revolutionary, non-pollutionary, wonderous,
machine.) This idea came to be because I wanted to encourage innovation &
inspiration for people to plant more trees. The butterfly was painted for being the most iconic representation of migration

Por El Sol was painted specifically for the Globall exhibition at Fundacion Union Gallery in Montevideo Uruguay. I painted this canvas in Tucson and traveled with it to Uruguay. It was fun on the plane having to plead with the flight attendants that this was very important and couldn’t get thrown into cargo. One of the flight attendants in Miami joked and said, “we already have a wedding dress in the coat closet” so I quickly responded and said “well this is my wedding dress can you help keep it safe?” – worked like a charm and we made it to Montevideo without hassles!

Installing the artwork and getting ready for the opening was great.

(photos by Melissa Brown)