Robert Gomez shares his truth with the world through art full of vibrant colors
San Quentin resident Robert Gomez, 55, rises early in the morning to create. With a colored pencil in hand, he renders imagery of birds and fish, the real and imagined, and colors both bold and subtle.
Gomez has been practicing his distinct style for the past 25 years, finding inspiration in his family and teachers.
“My brother motivated me to start my own art,” Gomez said. “He was my biggest inspiration.”
Today, Gomez still draws for his loved ones: his eldest brother and sister, his wife, and children.
Back in junior high school, his art teacher, Ms. Bell, would bring objects for her students to draw in class. She’d walk around seeing what angles, shapes, and shades each student saw in the object in front of them.
This introduction led Gomez to see the world through an artistic lens, and he began drawing the creatures around him.
“I love animals,” Gomez said. “I connect with them.”
Colors represent bravery for the artist; they become happiness and peace. Mr. Gomez loves soft hues but in certain pieces, he uses bold colors to accentuate the drama in his creations.
Sometimes, he just uses are black and white, like in his piece of a woman being lifted up to heaven with the aid of doves.
According to the artist, it represents God’s love for His creation. It’s a metaphor for redemption.
The woman’s body disintegrates, leaving behind every earthly malady addictions, as well as criminal pasts and lifestyles. But she’s being transformed. The doves are the agents of change, turning her into a spiritual being of purity and light.
It speaks to all mankind. It speaks of healing.
With his imaginative drawings, Gomez speaks to the human condition inside the confines of the prison system.
His conceptual image of a fish inside a balloon is an illustration of life inside prison. Everyone is isolated, but meant to be in society like the schools of fish, free.
The balloon both offers security and acts as a source of mental stress. It’s fragility suggests that one day, we will all be free and rejoin the open world.
Gomez allows his drawings to express emotions and thoughts when words fail him.
“It’s easier for me to find something in imagery that words can’t express,” he said.
His art flows from him, but he says this is a talent anyone can develop. It all begins with a simple doodle. When inspiration hits, the doodle can become a beautiful scene.
Mr. Gomez freely encourages others, like he was encouraged all those years ago.
“Have confidence in yourself to know that if you put your mind to anything, you can do it,” he says. “If you’re having hard times, do like I do: pick up a piece of paper and express yourself in drawing. You’ll be amazed what a simple drawing can do for your state of mind.”
