Great minds think alike, but they don't always think the same. Just ask Joseph Velasquez, former visiting artist and printmaking teacher for Auburn's art department, and Curtis Jones, assistant professor of printmaking at the University of Oklahoma.
Both artists recently collaborated on work in the Biggin Hall basement in the summer-long art exhibition "Fixin' Ain't Doin'."
"What we were so interested in was his way of working," said Barbara Bondy, Auburn associate professor of art. "(Velasquez) would just roll up in (his) vehicle with an actual printing press in the back of the car and print pictures and T-shirts right there on the spot for people."
Velasquez's Chicano and Mexican-American culture plays a role in influencing his artwork, juxtaposing traditional values with pop culture.
He grew up in the southwest and relates much of his work to his military experience and the loss of his mother at an early age.
Velasquez's prints feature many Hispanic and Mexican-American themes like the Virgin of Guadalupe, the scorpion, sombreros and skulls.
On the other hand, Jones' work features the farm and animals that his mother and father grew up with, which he ties in neatly with the military veteran experience he witnessed through his brother and father.
Printmaking is the incorporation of multiple images on a single canvas and then layering those images upon dozens of others to create an art form that is as expressive as it is personal.
Velasquez and Jones took their individual styles and combined them to make a multi-layered mash-up of two abstract worlds in one.
Bondy orchestrated the exhibition and said that the department wanted to give the artists this exhibition opportunity because it shows how great of an example collaborating artists can be when working together in different ways.
"This mixture of images and color palettes and composition structures produced a work that neither artist would have produced had they been working individually," Bondy said.
The exhibition features 24 pieces of work, most of which were made in the printing rooms on the first floor of Biggin Hall exclusively for this exhibit.
"We want students to just wander into the gallery in their free time and become inspired by the art they see," Bondy said.
Katie Sturgis, senior in art, said it is cool to see Velasquez's artwork on display, especially because she knew him personally and could easily relate to his work featured in the gallery.
"It's definitely quality stuff, and it's encouraging to see that he still makes his own art," Sturgis said.
The printmaking artwork featured in the exhibit has a very religious and yet familiar theme that can be interpreted however the viewer desires.
Velasquez is featured in a national exhibition through Cannonball Press in Brooklyn and is also part of the Dirty Printmakers of America, who are known to promote printmaking wherever they can.
Velasquez is known for his consistent desire to generate excitement and spread the word about printmaking, which is why he agreed to do the exhibition.
Jones currently works at the University of Oklahoma as a visual artist and assistant professor of printmaking, and his artwork has been featured all over the United States.
Cynthia Kristan-Graham of the department of art said there are some retro elements to this style of art, but when combined in new ways, those elements make an edgy and political vibe radiate from the prints.
"I'm not a printmaking expert, but I can tell that Velasquez is using a lot of layering and imposition that might change people's minds that this isn't your typical Renaissance print of a landscape or a person," Graham said. "This can be many, many, many different things, and its great. I just love it."
The exhibit is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday or by appointment in the Biggin Hall Art Gallery 101.
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