My work examines nostalgia, the fragility of memory, human attachment, the concept of home, the sense of place, and the migratory experience. In the fast-paced, technology-driven world we live in, oil painting allows me to slow down and see the world from different perspectives. In a gestural and brushed process, I collect and incorporate imagery from family photographs—old and new—into abstract and uncanny backgrounds composed of colors, architecture, flora, and space abstractions from the cities I’ve lived in. I challenge my attachment to objects by erasing, destroying, and permanently covering my work. This creates negative spaces that generate a sense of intrigue and curiosity, welcoming viewers to explore beyond the top layer of paint. The result is a timeless composition, where an action or event from the past connects with a background from the present, or vice versa. Their positions within the works makes them seem like they do not belong—and perhaps never will.

Joaquín Stacey-Calle was born in Quito, Ecuador, and lived there until he was 14 years old. In 2014, he and his family moved to Miami. In 2022, he received a BFA in painting and a minor in art history from Florida International University. He’s currently pursuing his MFA in Painting at Otis College of Art in Design in Los Angeles. Stacey-Calle is fascinated by human attachment to both photos and objects. He sources figurative imagery from old family photographs into oil paintings and mixes them with charged, complex symbols of palm and banana trees. Like his understanding of his diasporic self, his work is rooted in memories of his home and life in Ecuador, tethered to a new experience of unfixed imagery and materiality that remains ever-changing.

joaquinstaceycalle.com | @joaquin_stacey_