I create these combinations of drawing and collage to produce a communication of my own perspective, while commenting on the idea of the modern family home and how sometimes it’s beautiful exterior doesn’t show the turmoil occurring within it’s walls. The drawings themselves, serving as a form of chaos, are produced as action drawings and reflect hidden emotions from my subconscious, working as a therapeutic method of process. These homes represent myself as I attempt to hide my pain within a false front of happiness.

American Suburbs is photographic series depicting the architectural characteristics of American suburbs as a signifier to domestic utopia and perfectness. The photographs are of contemporary, American suburbs as hyper-real environments. The term hyper-real is not an example of material artificiality, or a type of simulation, but as an example of commonplace and familiarity.

Photographed in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado, California, and many other states throughout the US, the project is an illustration of an environment that is too real and too perfect. As form follows function, the fantasy of post-war suburban living alludes to misrepresented lifestyle ideals- cleanliness, consistency, structure, and safety. They bridge the definition of real and surreal, as they are examples of a falsely romanticized and idealized environment.

Juan Carlos Arroyo Callejas is a Mexican-born artist working in the areas of music, visual arts (as illustrator and vandal), and writing. His work is mostly experimental, but influence shows from his fine art formation at the National Conservatory of Music of Mexico, where he is currently getting a B.F.A. in Flute Performance.

I’ve been experimenting a lot with improvisational acting in film. Rather than having a bunch of rehearsals with memorized dialogue and blocking, I am more interested in letting the actors be my creative collaborators which brings a spontaneity to each performance I capture. I would say that this process was born from my interest in photography and capturing a natural moment in a single image. Very little goes into my films in terms of planning and staging. I try to use natural light and let the camera roll until my card is full. It’s always fascinating to me to see what happens when I just let people perform on impulse and when I follow my own impulses with the camera.

Never let go of hope; one day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself, “How did I get through all of that?”