Alisa Henriquez: Makeover Culture Disfigured

Exhibition Dates: April 26, 2016 - May 21, 2016

Reception: Thursday, April 28, 6 - 8 pm

The Painting Center is pleased to present Makeover Culture Disfigured, an exhibition of recent assemblages by Alisa Henriquez. Makeover Culture Disfigured refers to the distorted nature of identity and body image found in mediated images as well as Henriquez’s approach to them. In her new body of constructed assemblages, Henriquez combines digitized and distorted scans from popular and glamour culture with supercharged materials like glitter, faux fur, synthetic hair, and resin. Spliced images of heavily mascaraed eyes, glossed lips, hair, and skin are stacked and fractured across oval forms in ways that evoke Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, and Feminist Art and at the same time is wholly contemporary and her own. The encoded meanings and myths contained in her sources offer Henriquez much artistic fodder for examining the abstract dialogue, emblematic importance, and disorienting sense various material and media born identities reveal when positioned in the same space. The cumulative effect is a series of compelling works that challenge overly simplistic identity constructions and create a complex experience.

Alisa Henriquez was born in Kingston, Jamaica and first studied art at Emily Carr Collage of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada. She received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, studied painting at Yale Summer School of Music and Art and earned her MFA from Indiana University, Bloomington. Currently, an Associate Professor at Michigan State University, her work has been shown in nationally and internationally recognized venues. A catalogue with essay by Alison Gass, Associate Director for Exhibitions, Collections and Curatorial Affairs, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University accompanies the exhibition.

For more information on the artist, please visit www.alisahenriquez.com

View Catalogue: Henriquez Catalogue