Blackbird

An online journal of literature and the arts

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Flight v23n3

Art

Studio Visit

Roberto Jamora

Photographs by Josh Galarza

Roberto Jamora stands beside his tools and a shelving unit loaded with various paint containers and pumice medium.
Roberto Jamora stands beside an open portfolio of prints in his studio.
Roberto Jamora's woodworking tools in his studio, including a circular saw, goggles, and wood glue.
Cans filled with many paint brushes.
Detail image of one of Roberto Jamora's abstract paintings showing the texture of the layered acrylic paint.
Detail of Trying to keep it together, 2024
Detail of one of Roberto Jamora's abstract paintings showingthe texture of the layered paints.
Detail of Border Crossers 2, 2023
A bird's eye view of a 3D gallery mockup.
Gallery mockups allow Jamora to plan his arrangements for upcoming art shows.
A bird's eye view into a gallery mockup, showing where Roberto Jamora will place his paintings in the gallery space.
Roberto Jamora stands beside an open portfolio of prints in his studio.
Jamora walks me through his screenprinting processes, which clearly mirror, in some ways, his body of paintings.
A detail of an abstract print representing a basketball court.
A gradated print, blue to white, featuring a basketball net.
A screenprint made by exposing a screen covered with a basketball net.
A colorful print titled "First Light" rests on an open portfolio.
Some of Jamora’s earlier screenprints display similar layering techniques.
Many globs of used paint piled on top of each other to create a mound.
A mound made of excess acrylic paint.
Roberto Jamora opens a tub of pumice medium.
Pumice Medium
Roberto Jamora holds a large makeshift squeegee made from a length of plywood. He stsands before three of his paintings in his studio space.
Jamora with one of his makeshift squeegees, used to draw paint across large canvases.

Wavy lines denoting a space break.

Contributor's Notes

Josh Galarza, lead art editor, writes fiction and creative nonfiction and is a multidisciplinary visual artist specializing in printmaking, book arts, and sculpture. His debut novel, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky (Henry Holt and Company, 2024), was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University, a BFA in art from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a BA in English from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Headshot of Roberto Jamora.

Roberto Jamora

Roberto Jamora is a Richmond-based artist and educator. He holds an MFA from the State University of New York at Purchase and a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCUarts). He is an Assistant Professor at the VCUarts Art Foundation Program. He is the Asian Centennial Distinguished Fine Arts Fellow at William & Mary. His artwork has been exhibited at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Contemporary Art Center of New Orleans, and elsewhere. He is represented by Bond Millen Gallery in Richmond, Virginia.

Art

  • Gallery

  • Studio Visit

  • Personal Effects

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