Raelis Vasquez turns snapshots of Afro Dominican life into paintings of belonging

Raelis Vasquez, a New York and New Jersey-based artist, works from a bank of his memories and emotions to create tender and sincere paintings of Afro Dominican life. Usually featuring his kin and friends, the large-scale oil and acrylic works are cast in warm and welcoming colors. In one painting, a brown-skinned girl in a tubi, a tubular hairstyle crafted by Dominican women to preserve our salon blow-outs, eats her breakfast. In other works, a Black woman bottle-feeds her baby while sitting in a bright blue rocker, and a young Black couple await their destiny as they document their nuptials on their wedding day.Raelis Vasquez, a New York and New Jersey-based artist, works from a bank of his memories and emotions to create tender and sincere paintings of Afro Dominican life. Usually featuring his kin and friends, the large-scale oil and acrylic works are cast in warm and welcoming colors. In one painting, a brown-skinned girl in a tubi, a tubular hairstyle crafted by Dominican women to preserve our salon blow-outs, eats her breakfast. In other works, a Black woman bottle-feeds her baby while sitting in a bright blue rocker, and a young Black couple await their destiny as they document their nuptials on their wedding day.