Quiroz-Salgado, Samantha

Samantha Quiroz-Salgado 

Subsist 

9x12 

Ink 

$75 

Bio: My name is Samantha but I prefer to be called Sam. I was born in Scottsdale, Arizona and currently reside in Phoenix, Arizona. I work mostly with colored pencils and (oil) pastels. Whenever I'm not in art class, I tend to draw girls I see on social media, portraits of my family and friends, and characters from media I enjoy! Although I live in a very sunny and hot area, I love the rainy and cloudy weather! I look out my window or sit out in my backyard and try my best to replicate the weather on paper. I am in an advanced art class (Drawing & Painting 3-4) and I draw events that a teenager (specifically girls) goes through in life. Whenever I'm not holding a pencil or paintbrush, I play games on my computer or spend time with my Yorkshire-Terrier, Buu.

Artist Statement: This piece shows a girl laying down with miscellaneous items scattered on her bed. There are vapes, cigarettes, money, makeup, food, and pills. I decided to leave this paper with no color and go with a grayscale palette to convey an 'unfortunate' feeling. I experimented with Sakura Pigma ink pens and created this 'dramatic' piece. The inspiration for this work were my friends' lives and my own life. None of my friends were content with their life and neither was I. I found out my friends were involved with drugs and those sorts of things. I talked to them about it and they told me that it was a way to escape and feel 'alive', as they put it. I was at my breaking point and I took my friends’ words and formed it into my own form of 'advice', "Since all else is failing, resort to smoking and vaping and turn your life upside down so you can feel alive for once! Your friends seem happy doing this so it should make you happy too." I thought about it and came to the conclusion that I shouldn't let this one bad event turn my whole life around. Laying in bed all day and not contributing to anything or talking to anyone won't get anyone anywhere in life. My friends and I got over our 'demise' together and now we can reflect on the past and learn or laugh about it. Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before and the biggest things we worry about now, turn out to be so small and eventually forgotten in the future.