A brief History of immigration

A solo installation and painting show by Maria de los Angeles

Showing from May 7th - June 4th, 2015

Reception : May 28th, 2015 from 6-8pm at FRONT art space

New York, NY – April 27, 2015 – FRONT is pleased to present the exhibition A Brief History of Immigration. A Brief History ...is Maria de Los Angeles first solo show in NYC. 

Figuration dominates the work of Ms. de Los Angeles which suggests a fragmented narrative derived from autobiographical events and social commentaries. Her intent is to engage the viewer in a conversation on immigration and human rights issues.

Drawing is the primal language for Ms. de Los Angeles and her work depends on it. She experiments with crisp lines and washes of acrylic paint on canvas or paper. Her subject matter is the immigrant’s experience and the conflict between the dreams and the reality of an undocumented alien’s life. Her soft spring colors and pink washes inherently desire to make beautiful images of those who are voiceless, that remain in silence and in fear, and that are waiting for change. Ms. de Los Angeles draws and paints vignettes of bodies, landscapes, and border patrols.

Framing devices, such as thought bubbles, structure the dual relationship of the physical and the imagined space. This is the means by which her characters expose their internal worlds to the viewer. Each scene layers stories of fiction and non-fiction, while simultaneously collapsing time.

Born in Mexico, Ms. de Los Angeles grew up in Santa Rosa, California. She moved to the east coast to complete her bachelor degree at Pratt Institute. She is a graduate of the Class of 2015 of Yale’s MFA program.

Ms. de Los Angeles has received multiple awards and distinctions, most recently she was selected to receive the respected Blair Dickinson Memorial Prize, awarded at Commencement by the Yale University School of Art. The prize supports those with the "Ability to find spiritually rich occurrences in the world. [The] Observer. Critic. Isolator. [The] One who points to a moment and reveals its importance. [The] Ability to cross over between areas of thought and to ascend and descend."

She has been nominated to receive another prestigious art ward The Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship Award. This award "was created to support exceptional people with exceptional ideas and abilities to foster creativity and new approaches to the arts, education, environment, civic, health and/or social services."

Other awards include: The Doonesbury and McDougal /Leuter Endowed Scholarship, 2015; the Gambling Paint Award, 2014; and the Community Engagement and Leadership Award, 2014.

 A selection of her exhibitions includes; Drawing Center in NYC, and Jack Leissring’s Studio and The Sonoma County Museum ion California.