For Anna Ortiz, the borderlands are a wealthy supply for the uncanny. The Mexican-American artist (beforehand) was raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, however visited her household in Guadalajara typically. There, she was immersed in her ancestral panorama and launched to her household’s historical past as artists—her grandfather painted portraits, whereas her aunt was an expert sculptor.
These formative experiences provided a distinction to her life within the Northeast and the dichotomous relationship between the 2 continues to affect her considering and apply right this moment.
For her upcoming solo exhibition at Mindy Solomon Gallery, Ortiz conjures a surreal borderland that suspends time. Awash in saturated coloration palettes of pink, blue, and inexperienced, the work in Prophecy Right here and Gone reference Aztec histories and the way their affect continues to form the panorama.
Within the diptych “Al Otro Lado de Texcoco,” for instance, a gleaming lake peeks by dense clusters of cacti. Nested on the base of the volcano La Malinche, the physique of water greeted the Aztecs once they moved to what’s now referred to as Mexico Metropolis. When the Spanish arrived, they drained the lake in a failed try and farm the land.
Ortiz tells Colossal that she steadily paints pairs as a technique to take into account unfulfilled destinies and paths not chosen. Twin agaves seem in “Pareja,” whereas “Tula” depicts a few totemic sculptures that seem like standing guard. Flat butterflies grace their chests, a reference to the statues discovered on the capital of the Aztecs’ ancestors, the Toltecs. The artist equally incorporates doubling by reflections, as an impressive jaguar is mirrored within the aquatic foregrounds of a number of work.
World-building and providing an entry level into historic prophecies is essential to this physique of labor. within the methods civilization and the panorama work together and form each other, Ortiz shares that “loss is a central theme…I was once very close to my Mexican heritage, and I lost it. I grew up fluent in Spanish but because of family strife, I lost that fluency.”
Ortiz’s work each honor the traditional peoples and cultures that when occupied the land and current another universe through which their myths and prophecies had completely different outcomes. Vibrant and uncanny, the works painting the “lives we were unable to live but (that) happened without us,” she provides.
Prophecy Right here and Gone is on view from April 5 to Might 10 in Miami. Discover extra from Ortiz on her web site and Instagram.
