Lancer Artists

The work of four seniors in AP Studio Art — Matthew Brigido, Alexa Johnson, Tiffany Maguire and Chris Nguyen — was selected for ArtNow, an annual juried Santa Clara County high school art exhibition presented by New Museum Los Gatos. Responding to the theme “Unarmed Truth,” their artwork was among 800 submissions from artists at 37 high schools across Santa Clara County. The exhibition runs until June 25.

LIFE’S LOTERÍA BY MATTHEW BRIGIDO

“I made this piece wanting to accurately portray the aspects of my identity and the several roles I fill by depicting them all in the form of a Lotería [Spanish bingo] game. Growing up close to my culture, family was always put first. Through my unique situation, this meant I had to juggle my responsibilities from the ripe old age of 5. I have selected objects that relate to my daily life and chose a game like Lotería to capture the fast-paced accumulation of different game tiles like how I had to quickly take up roles in life.”

Silenced By Tiffany Maguire

“My piece is about how women’s selfexpression is hindered by patriarchal society. The woman’s hands are covering her breasts because of the orthodox notion that a woman’s body is something judged and therefore ashamed of. The hand imprint that overlays her face conveys the silencing that occurs when liberties that inherently accompany femininity are taken out of her own right and are rather dictated by male determination. The woman portrays the vulnerability, insecurity and oppression that young girls feel when influential society negatively affects them into believing they should be ashamed for not fitting into the unattainable ‘ideal’ mold.”

“My unarmed truth is a personal one, in that I wanted to exhibit that many parts of who I am are a mix of influences from the world around me. I am a culmination of many mediums: the people I’ve met, the things I’ve experienced, the media I consume. Things have been added on and taken off, and yet, in the center, my unfiltered essence remains. The title of my piece derives from the word amalgamation, meaning ‘the action, process or result of combining or uniting.’”