Sometimes I Daydream of Flying Away
Jay Lynn Gomez
Sometimes I Daydream of Flying Away (2019)
Gifted by Robert Hayden III and Richard Silver
Jay Lynn Gomez (b. 1986)
This work by Jay Lynn Gomez contains themes of landscape, labor, race, and representation. Gomez began making work by painting figures of workers into images in Architectural Digest magazines during her breaks while working as a nanny. Her paintings often highlight unseen workers, in particular, Latinx nannies, gardeners, construction workers, and valets. She reinserts these workers—as cardboard cutout figures—into visual representations of landscapes where they are otherwise frequently omitted.
Gomez continues to work with cutout figures, placing them free standing around her exhibitions and collaging them onto her paintings, as seen in Sometimes I Daydream of Flying Away—a work that reveals the artist’s and subjects’ identities as well as features specific to Southern California. In an interview with Carolina Miranda for the Los Angeles Times Gomez stated, “I’m painting my own mother. I’m painting about my dad. I’m painting about myself.”
Year acquired: 2021