Alicia Paz is an artist based in London, working internationally. Born in Mexico City, Paz graduated from UC Berkeley, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Paris, Goldsmiths College and Royal College of Art London. [1]
Over several years, Alicia Paz has focused on the tension between artifice/ illusion and the veracity of actual processes involved in painting, exposing the duplicitous nature of representation. Through her work, she explores notions of hybridity, assemblage, and metamorphosis, focusing particularly on the female figure: the self is experienced and presented as multiple, fluid, paradoxical. Paz's paintings are as much portraits as they are landscapes, combining references that range from erudite painting or the history of the painted image, [2] to citations of advertising images or comics. [3] Inhabiting fantastical and exotic landscapes, Paz's feminine subjects become fused and combined with organic life. Strange and unsettling visions of tree-women and monster-women also represent the fusion of the subject with painting itself: she often depicts amphibian or plant-like figures “weeping” pigment, their limbs, hair, and various ornamental accoutrements mud-caked and dripping, as if extracted from a colourful, post-cognitive swamp.
In August 2017 Paz unveiled her first public sculpture commission at Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen Magdeburg in Magdeburg, titled Insel der Puppen (Island of Dolls), in steel and enamel. [4] [5] Paz is working on a larger research and production project exploring the network of women that are playing an important rule in her life, personally and professionally. Her project is supported by the Arts Council England. She developed her research it into three exhibition, each specifically adapted to the location and with new work for each show. [6] [7] The first installation was Río y Mar (River and Sea) at the Beecroft Art Gallery in Southend-on-Sea, part of Estuary 2021, [8] followed by River Makers at the Visual Arts Centre in North Lincolnshire, both in 2021, and finally Juntas (Together) at the Maison de l'Amérique latine [9] in Paris in early 2022. [10] [11] [12]
2022: Maison de l'Amérique latine , Paris, Juntas
2021: Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, River Makers
2021: Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, Río y Mar (River and Sea)
2010: LAC Narbonne, in association with FRAC Languedoc-Rousillon for Casanova Forever, Sigean France [13]
2007: Unit 2 Gallery, London Metropolitan University, London UK
2006: Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK
2005: Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina [14]
2000: Galerie Yvonamor Palix, Paris, France
2021: Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend UK, Río y Mar (River and Sea), [15] as part of Estuary 2021
2012: Through the Looking Glass, The Agency Gallery, London, UK
2011: Round and Round and Round (Part 2), exhibition drawn from the FRAC IDF Collection, curated by Xavier Franceschi, Parc culturel de Rentilly, France
2009: Multiverse, curated by Ole Hagen, Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London, UK [16]
2008: Jerwood Contemporary Painters, Jerwood Space, London, UK [17]
2007: Celeste Art Prize, selected by Goldsmiths College Curating MA, London, UK
2007: Incheon Biennale, Incheon, South Korea [18]
2006: John Moores 24, selectors: Peter Blake, Tracey Emin, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Biennial, UK [19]
2004: EAST International, selectors: Neo Rauch, Gerd Harry Lybke, Norwich, UK [20]
2004: Mind the Gap, 10 London Artists, sponsored by British Council, Triangle, Marseille, France
1999: ZAC 99, collaboration directed by "Bureau d'Etudes" and Jota Castro, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
1998: Tamayo Museum Biennale, Oaxaca, Mexico
2022: Cité internationale des arts, Paris
2022: residency at the Leonora Carrington Museum, Mexico
2002: Triangle France, Artist's Residency, La Friche de la Belle de Mai, Marseilles, France
2002: Cité internationale des arts, Artist's Residency in Paris
2001: Gasworks Artist's Residency, London, UK [21]
2001: Grant awarded by Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Mexico
1999: Delfina Studio Trust Residency, London, UK
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