CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
BY JARED VERDEJO
RECENT WORK SAMPLE
Title: A Healing Hand
Artist: Jared Verdejo
Date of Creation: April 9, 2024
Medium: Mixed Media Collage on 8.5x11 Cardstock
A Healing Hand
A Healing Hand by Jared Verdejo is a textured and introspective work, symbolizing a return to basics and an ongoing journey of healing. This piece integrates primary colors—red, yellow, and blue— a nod to the artist’s experience taking art classes as a child. Through subtle ink linework, organic and geometric shapes, typography, and 3D elements, this piece reflects the scattered but soft landscape of the artist’s mind. Using salvaged wires from a broken cellphone charger, Jared emphasizes themes of resilience, reinvention, and finding beauty within brokenness. The work also nods to the lingering impacts of COVID-19 through a torn corner of a magazine article. We see the letters "h," "e," "a," and "l" at the center of the piece faintly emerging to remind viewers of the persistent emotional echoes from that time.
This abstract yet deeply personal work was a therapeutic departure from Jared's usual loud an bold collage style, bringing a sense of freedom and childlike wonder. A Healing Hand was donated to a fundraiser (Set Sail Against Hunger) for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, where it found a home with collectors who share Jared's passion for political and reflective art.