Vita
2014
Mixed technic on paper
152 x 122 cm
2014
Mixed technic on paper
152 x 122 cm
"These works are so much portraits as they are landscapes, combining influences that range from erudite painting or the history of the painted image, to citations of the advertising images or comics. Interweaving multiple painting techniques such as oil paint, acrylic, paper and photo-collages, pearls and found objects, and the effects of collage and trompe l’oeil, these textures creations feature a colorful and joyous parade of female protagonists and the occasional monstrous creature. Through the theatrical deployment of such carnevalesque figures, I incorporate painterly references to fashion (past and present), adornment, horror, disguise, tribal attire, and also camouflage. The masked characters record a kind of role-playing , exploring alternative representations of identity."
Alicia Paz
Alicia Paz
L’Effrontée
2012
Mixed media on paper
101 x 78 cm
2012
Mixed media on paper
101 x 78 cm
"The masked characters record a kind of role-playing, exploring alternative representations of identity. In this context I examine the meaning of perception, mimesis, transformation and mutability as a function not only of dramatic personae, but of personhood in general. This is a way of understanding the unity of the self. Central to this body of work is the heritage of Surrealist portraiture, both Latin American and Anglo Saxon. However, I try to bring a marked post- consumerist perspective to these layered assemblages, applying paint as an abject ‘second skin’, to either embellish or obliterate the impersonal mask that the fashion photo has become. The textures allude to ‘rubbish’ and ‘mud’ juxtaposed with precious stones, pearls and other ‘treasures’, all inter-mixed: it is a juggling of opposites."
Alicia Paz
Alicia Paz
