Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schaz.5
Artist Bio
Schaz Colón is a proud Stockton artist, with works in both sculpture and painting. He’s a current Delta student with plans to transfer to a state college, and is working towards getting a bachelor's degree in art. He’s also an employee at Delta’s Horton Gallery with hopes to continue working in galleries and maybe one day become a curator or art juror himself. His proudest achievements are his wins in the 2024 SJCOE art show, winning 1st in AP studio photo and both 1st and Best of Category in 3D art, as well as other achievements like honorable mention for Haggin museum’s 2024 student exhibition. He continues to exhibit in local galleries as he develops his techniques and skills.
Artist Statement
I extremely value creativity in my work, focusing heavily on using my imagination to make my work as unique and creative as I am. My style is framed around my usage of vibrant colors, aquatic life, and creative concepts. Through my art, I aim to create a nostalgic visual narrative that replicates the natural sorrows of life; concepts most people struggle to sit with, love, or accept. It provides a sense of comfort and freedom as I express myself creating something physical. I look at it through a lens of beauty and turn it into something that I, as well as others, can enjoy.
My works are designed to evoke emotional depth and simple whimsy that warms the soul. With each piece I reference my own experiences in life with a hope that others can also relate to it or even interpret it in other ways further than my original intentions. Art is how I validate my emotions, turning them into colorful moods for people to relate to. And when not trying to reach others through a shared feeling, I also find satisfaction in a piece that’s main purpose is to visually amaze.
Work Statement
I Guess, Just Not with Me is about the unfortunate love story many queer people share. Where getting left for someone of the opposite gender is painfully understandable and the closest you can get to love is by settling for sexual compromises. It is not love they’re leaving you for but because they can't see themselves in a same sex relationship. This leaves you sitting in sorrow, with your head still resting on their shoulder, while they instead go off to wed another. The piece illustrates feeling betrayed by a lover and being left for a relationship you wished was yours.
The title, I Guess, Just Not with Me, is about knowing the truth in what is said even if they won't admit it. Because you know the real reasons why they say it won’t work out, or why you can’t meet their parents, or why when they talk about marriage, it doesn’t quite sound like they’re planning it with you. They tell you the reasons why they can't give you what you want as if it's something they lack, until you find out they’re giving all that and more, just to someone else. It makes you feel foolish to have listened to them, realizing they were capable, now leaving you hopeless in a constant state of, “I guess, just not with me” as you replay all the memories.
It hurts but love isn't just love when it's also gay. For many it’s easier to only experience their queer attractions in private so they can live unbothered in an acceptable relationship later. This piece is also about what they do give you. A love that makes you feel wanted but not chosen, a love that isn't even love, only what they can give you. The sexual imagery in this piece is to symbolize the most they can give you; it’s what the relationship has to offer when love isn’t on the table. The genitals on the top and bottom are inside the rings of the male and female sex symbols representing the act of sex between the two genders by the same man. Next to them connects a scene including the man in relation to the mlm (men loving men) relationship in the middle. The scene being with a woman, representing how he left the other in pursuit of a heterosexual marriage, and the other representing longing and absence as the man lays with a skeleton in place of the man that left him. This is a complex topic with deep meanings about genders and sexuality, not meant for those who have loving relationships with both genders, but rather those who are hurt by those who can't love, and the loveless sex-based relationships that have grown common in the queer community.
I Guess, Just Not with Me
Linocut on paper
18” x 12” print / paper 22” x 16” / 27.5” x 20.5” frame
2026
NFS