Location: United States
Using her paints, Arlene Buster, examines the convergence of our physical and digital worlds. She draws attention to the aspects of the contemporary digital landscape to visually illustrate the dialogue between our physical and digital realms.
Her interests encompass the manner in which technology has become so intertwined with our lives, such that, it has become an extension of ourselves. Her work embodies the representation of the figure juxtaposed with color, data glitches, and digitally corrupted signals. These figurative works are painted using oil on canvas.
The Los Angeles area is home to the award-winning Cuban-American artist. The daughter of two Cuban exiles was born in 1969, in Hoboken, NJ. Her affection for painting began at a very young age. As told by her family, she would be found painting or drawing by herself, in the quiet corners of her home. This devotion was further nurtured when her mother took her to inquire about her very first private art class. Nestled amongst the hustle and bustle of stores and traffic in Hudson County, NJ, sat the almost hidden art school. When she opened the glass door, she can recollect the aroma of turpentine and paints that engulfed her. The somewhat small and elongated space was lined up with beautiful easels in a repetitive row. Each week was a heartfelt joyful experience that helped her gain an understanding of the concepts in art that were taught in class. The five years of private instruction was a pivotal time in her young life that resonated throughout her life.
She persisted in her painting endeavors and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts from Montclair State University. In the furtherance of her development and a quest to paint in the tradition of the old masters, she pursued a formal education at the Academy of Art University. The education she received was, to a great extent, a classical approach to painting and drawing. She learned to paint in a more realistic style while integrating contemporary concepts in her work. Despite several physical health challenges throughout the process, she earned her Master of Fine Arts in Figurative Painting
Reflection upon our digitally infused lives evokes both a sense of fascination and anxiety towards this rapidly changing digital landscape. Digital technology has had a profound effect on our daily lives. In many ways it has made life much easier, but it has also generated significant societal dilemmas. My work endeavors to bring some of the issues of our times to the forefront, in the hope that we can address them as a society.
Marshall McLuhan stated, “Technology is just not a happenstance and not just something that got there when nobody was noticing and so, we are responsible for our technologies and the effects of our technologies, as we are responsible for tidying up our grammar.”
The privacy we all once shared has quickly dissipated through time. Cameras can now be found lurking everywhere, furthermore we are incapable of evading them. Technology has changed our perception of the world as our real world and the digital world converge. Our lives are so enmeshed with technology, that it seemingly appears to exist as an extension of our identities.
My work embodies the representation of the figure juxtaposed with color, data glitches, and digitally corrupted signals. These figurative works are painted using oil on canvas. It is through my love of figurative painting that I present these issues.
OIL ON CANVAS , 24 x 48 INCHES, 2022
This painting reflects a hidden camera placed in the bathroom of a vacation rental.
“THE BATH ”
