The gallery will be hosting an opening reception for the artist on Friday, February 10th from 6-8 pm. This will be Puerta’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.
In her work, Puerta examines the cyclical evolution of natural systems, observing the human form as its own small universe. She is fascinated by human relationships with the constructed worlds they inhabit, and works to expose the tensions that exist between nature and the urban landscape. Guided by the physical qualities of a wide range of materials, with varied textures, form, and color, Puerta portrays richly layered, textural fragments of a vast, infinite landscape, where natural and human-made systems collide.
Within/Without includes work from the past two years, where Puerta has expanded her artistic language beyond her signature mixed media. Cast iron sculptures, prints, and works in handmade paper all incorporate tile patterns, making reference to both constructed floors and the body: cracked, broken, and worn down with a delicate accretion of lace. Beads, fur, and chains push their way through grids and wrap around edges, as scarabs crawl their way across unnatural spaces.
Puerta built her cast iron sculptures through Kohler Arts/Industry Program, made her etchings and collagraphs through the Keyholder Residency at the Lower East Side Printshop, and created her works in handmade paper and paper pulp as an artist-in-residence at the Dieu Donné Workspace program.
Lina Puerta (born in NJ and raised in Colombia) lives and works in New York City. She is a recipient of several residencies and grants including: the 2016 Dieu Donné Workspace Residency, Artprize-8 Sustainability Award, 2015 Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant, 2015 Kohler Arts/Industry Program (WI), 2014-15 Keyholder Residency at the Lower East Side Printshop, 2013-14 Smack Mellon Art Studio Program, 2014 Materials for the Arts, 2013 Wave Hill Winter Workspace, and the 2010 Emerging Artist Fellowship at Socrates Sculpture Park in New York. Exhibition venues include: The Museum of Biblical Art, NY; El Museo del Barrio, NY; Socrates Sculpture Park, LIC; Wave Hill, Bronx; Geary Contemporary, NY, and Pi-Artworks in London. Press includes Hyperallergic, The New York Times, Wilder Quarterly, Sculpture Magazine, and Artnet News, among others.
