Adrian Gonzalez

Lives and works in Gainesville, FL, USA

Artist statement

I explore the symbolic weight of knockoff culture rooted in Latin and American traditions, magic and superstition. My work weaves historical, contemporary, and mythological references and is entered through a visual Spanglish language that reframes how Latin identity is understood in the United States. Spanglish, which I speak, was born of colonization as a synthesis of languages and experiences. Too often it is framed as broken, a hybrid that signals lack rather than innovation. It is a confluence of one language not fully remembered and another incompletely acquired, forced to integrate under pressure. As an artist, I see in Spanglish the potential to reclaim, adapt, and move forward. My work creates a visual language that lives with ancestral fragments, transforming them into something generative. I use reproductions and knockoffs to explore how hybrid forms—whether spoken or visual—carry cultural power.

Artwork