statement
The work that I do is the beginning of a conversation I hope to create. In a time when we are throttled by a myriad of information, news, and images, when do we really pause to think critically about the world that surrounds us? The biggest challenge I face as an artist is finding relevance in my work and figuring out how to transcend its means of expression. My work as at once a brazen critique and yet a love poem to the world that surrounds me, but never without a touch of dark humor.
I feel most alive when I am knee-deep into the materials I’m working with, which is why I mostly work traditionally: watercolor, printmaking, and collage are my mediums of choice. Watercolor offers a sensitive approach to my surroundings, and collage induces a unique way of bringing them together. Printmaking allows for an interdisciplinary and all-encompassing means of creating. The inherent physicality of the medium allows me to literally grasp onto and mold the problem at hand, blurring the line between art and artist.
I’ve a fairly traditional training which greatly informs my work. As an Art History enthusiast, I rely heavily on theory when creating, often quoting history in my work. I strive to keep the past present in order to affect the future, all the while finding ways to maintain a contemporary relevance. I am deeply influenced by artists and thinkers such as: Goya, Bruegel, Ralph Steadman, Louise Bourgeois and Paul McCarthy. Additionally, I often turn to Flemish and Netherlandish Renaissance painters, as well as literary movements such as absurdism and magical realism.
I actively explore themes that are pertinent to me. As a Latin-American female artist, my work is often informed by the socio-political matters my country faces; I cannot create without addressing the world that surrounds me. On the other hand, I am also fascinated by the natural world, and find that I am happiest when interacting with it, whether it be by a brush or a snorkel. I find that the natural world, particularly its smaller, complex entities can humorously mirror the bizarre and surreal nature of my country.
bio
Lucía Ortiz was born and raised in Mexico City to an American mother and a Mexican father. She received her BFA in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2016, along with a minor in Printmaking and a minor in Art History. She has interned at multiple galleries, including Richard Telles, Thomas Duncan, and Hannah Hoffman. She also interned for Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), a non-profit art organization and gallery founded in 1978. Lucía has participated in several student shows, and exhibited work at Appearances: Eco-Art Festival in Massachusetts. She recently organized, funded, and curated a student group exhibition titled NEPANTLA: a space in between, which serves as a thesis to her degree. Currently she works as a creative leader at AUR A, a consulting agency that does strategy for art and culture projects. Lucía plans to continue her studies through an MA in Curatorial Practices and an MFA in Printmaking. Her goal is to fund a non-profit organization and printmaking studio that brings developing artists from underrepresented communities into contemporary markets.
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