Loaded with a cryptic critique of the female persona, Nina Soriano, a senior in painting, claims stature among conceptual artists, infusing personal ideology with iconic imagery in figurative work.

“The head is painted blue with a contrasting warm background,” said Kellie Gedert, a senior in painting and drawing. “The head lays there on its side, cold like it has been decapitated and forgotten under some little girl’s bed. The part that catches me off guard is the eyes. They look right at you.”

This deepness and eeriness is part of the mystery behind Soriano’s work. Dealing with concepts of feminine growth and maturation, Soriano took these idealized images and gave them personality.

“She saw the challenges to find out what these doll images meant as a child and what they mean to her now,” Kellie said. “The struggle between growing up and trying to hold onto that innocence in a world that doesn’t seem to respect or have a place for innocence anymore.”

Along the lines of female development comes the arrival of identity and understanding individual place in a chaotic society.

“Nina’s work to me seems to be about the conflict between individuality and conformity and possibly some of the characteristics between the two,” said Zane Pappas, a graduate student in printmaking. “I think her ultimate goal is to get the viewer to question their stance on certain issues.

Influenced by the idealized paintings of Lisa Yuskavag, Soriano uses the dolls as an ironic icon of female identity as portrayed in the media. With countless advertisements in television, movies and magazines, the role and identity of the modern female is questionable as portrayed by Soriano.

“Some of my paintings are based differently off of advertisements where the models are in normal settings or doing daily things, but they’re completely idealized,” Soriano said. “I took the dolls as a satirical representation of this idealization.”

Other influences of Soriano’s work include her father and painter, Edward Hopper.

“My dad encouraged me to go for the creative.” Soriano said. “He’s an inspiration because he works full time and writes poetry. Edward Hopper’s use of light inspires me because I’m trying to use dramatic lighting. I thought about Van Gogh and his use of color to give the dolls emotion and Toulouse-Lautrec who really captures personality.”

Trying to capture youthful art with dramatic lighting, expressive color and subject personality defines Soriano’s work in its entirety.

“Youthful art, when it’s displayed is really personal and untouchable,” Soriano said. “I’m trying to convey the world’s condition that resonates with truth.”

Conveying an identity in humans figuratively not abstractly is Soriano’s objective.

“The dolls represent the ideology of creation,” Soriano said. “They are iconic individuals; the symbolism of the maker’s mark on creation. The fingerprint is a creator’s mark and the scratch is portrayed as human perfection; the flowers of blossoming and maturing.”

The imprint of creation is not only evident in Soriano’s design, but her use of color as well.

“Color is about emotion, conveying depressed or dead emotion,” Soriano said.

Passion and drive radiates in the paintings of iconic dolls that express mood, idealization and enignamatic energy.

“Her enthusiamsm towards her work is great and shows extreme promise,” said Teri Hackett, a lecturer in art.

Originality, depth and a desire for truth create large portraits of innocence lost; conspiring to be found again.

“I’m trying to find truth in individuals, to pick away at the fake skin people put on to find where their heart lies,” Soriano said.