points down) and an open-minded one if pointing up. Circles symbol-
ize a well-rounded person who discusses their feelings with others,
while a box will appear on a fi gure who refuses to talk about their
experiences.
The pictures become captivating in the sense that each one features
large areas of negative space, in which Tobar fi lls with color and
shapes. For example, red dots fl oat behind the portrait of a young
woman covered in paint. These shapes represent the “fl ow” that a
person follow in life. However, these currents might conceal some-
one’s identity because of how they act and not for their thoughts and
feelings.
Each woman comes to her own understanding of the self after the fact.
For example, a woman wearing a bunny mask touches her face with
two hands covered in what looks like blood. An arrow on her arm
points towards a bird. “The arrows are metaphors for the things that
other people want in your life,” Tobar says about the symbol. This in-
terpretation allows the viewer to imagine how the people in Native
came to their senses. A woman with arrows protruding out of her
arms continues to hold a baby, despite the pain. The text on the side,
borrowed from Beatles lyrics, reads, “Wonder how you manage to
make ends meet.” A moment like this refl ects a subject’s internal and
individual struggle while Tobar’s Orlando United conveys that of an
entire community and city.
Two hands, one black and the other white, clasp one another in front
of the Pulse nightclub. The color choice for the piece represents a les-
son that Tobar continues to rediscover in his work, “that we all want
Rabbit, mixed media
something different.” In Urban Jungle, that message came across in
the manner of interaction between the bird and bear, as a smaller viewer as in the superheroes of Unmasked and the women in Native.
creature sits on the paw of a much larger one because of the intrinsic Each subject remains a mystery to the world until they feel comforta-
trust between them. Each of their identities become ambiguous to the ble with removing the mask on their own terms.
What U Think, mixed media
In the future, Tobar hopes to instill his characters with a darker palette
of emotions. Although some images already seem dark, like the bun-
ny-masked woman, they all speak to a brighter state of mind. The
bunny-masked fi gure fi nds comfort in her sacrifi ce, while the subject
in Lost at Sea withstands and embraces the colorful chaos. “I haven’t
used the ‘anger’ side of it all,” Tobar says about his past work, because
he doesn’t want to create any violence in the world. This reasoning
prompted him to remove the arrows from the Orlando United poster’s
original form. However, he still wants to be able to tell the “dark side”
of an event or feeling, as emotions of loss, grief, shame, and disappoint-
ment also shape and inform people’s lives as much as positive ones.
The challenge of welding a new set of emotions onto old objects pre-
sents a challenge for Tobar. He wants to make a collection that older
fans, people that have followed him since Man in the Mask, can both
understand and appreciate. This evolution of style may come in the
form of further abstractions with symbolic geometry. More recent col-
lections like Native already show how Tobar stepping further into a
style that expresses both vulnerability and inner strength.
You can see more at:
ChrisTobarArt.com
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