Pretend this is a trap focuses on Joey Fauerso’s attention to material, process, symbolism, and figuration. Fauerso’s new body of work is comprised of paintings and monoprints on multiple surfaces arranged into clusters around a central textual theme. The arrangements point to a temporal and physical stripping away of color and visual density, bringing together a subtractive acrylic painting technique and the sequencing formatting of video. The process of the paintings and prints coincide with Fauerso’s use of live-action and animation in her video work. The procedural back-and-forth of working between physical and digital platforms reveals the issue of relenting and regaining control—in art making, in society, in life. The modular units comprising video data, sheets of paper stock, un-stretched canvas or segments of text, offer Fauerso a mass of material to draw from, editing out and rearranging the elements into a cohesive whole. Limiting color benefits the artist in that setting this monochromatic boundary allows for more potential in the compositions themselves. 
-Chad Dawkins, Associate Gallery Director, Texas State University