Mixed Media on Paper
Carla Contreras
Public Art
VIDEO INSTALLATION ‘REMOVAL’
|REM<>VAL|
Peachtree St NE@17th St NE. Marta bus stop bench with shed. One block away from the High Museum of Art. Homeless woman. Pile of IKEA bags. Cold day. Woman talking to herself. Woman playing with her hands. Sunny day. Woman staring into space. Woman rejecting spare change. Woman stretching her feet. Hot day. Woman swinging her body back and forth. Rainy day. Woman smiling to herself. Cloudy day. Woman rejecting food. Woman talking and smiling to herself. Woman playing with her hands. Sunny day. Woman staring into space. Windy day. Woman rejecting spare change. Woman stretching her feet. Hot day. Woman swinging her body back and forth. Rainy day. Woman smiling to herself…
…bus stop bench removed.
2017- 2018 Exhibition Portfolio
3D PRINT
PRINTS
Digital Painting printed on watercolor paper
Serigraphy
Photolithography
Serigraphy
Artist Statement
2021
My work explores ideas revolving around the human condition and existential concerns through different art-making processes that include drawing, painting, installation, and objects. From the standpoint of my own perception and approach to my surroundings and motivated by the urge to connect with others and existence, to investigate the idea of balance, to relate to human struggles from an individual and collective perspective, my artistic practice is nurtured by observation and assimilation of the world around me (natural and urban ecosystems). My artistic practice and bodies of work mutate and evolve according to variables of time, place, and personal + global circumstances manifesting into non-objective, pattern based mixed media works. Some of the concepts examined are longing, alienation, transformation, resilience, decay, fecundity, rebirth, adaptability, fragility, impermanence, relentlessness.
2020
My work is an exploration of analogies between the human condition and nature. Individual and collective dynamics affected by inner mechanisms and ecosystemic agents. My making process and artistic practice seek to examine ideas of resilience, transformation, rebirth, tension, balance, transition, uncertainty, impermanence. The imagery and mark making vocabulary in my mixed media drawings and paintings come from the recollection of visual information took in from holistic immersions in natural sites in Atlanta, Ga like the Chattahoochee river area and Stone Mountain.
2018 – 2019
My work examines the relation between urban development and the human condition. I am interested in analyzing and questioning the impact of a booming urban ecosystem over its inhabitants and their interactions within those transforming surroundings. Through a multidisciplinary approach that combines video installation, painting, drawing, and printmaking I intend to tackle societal challenges and hurdles such as the fragmentation of communities, sterilization of areas of the city, and homogenization of populations. The formal language and color palette of the work is drawn from the recognition and observation of visual information and marking systems in the utility sector and construction industry, as well as from an intimate and more personal processes and interactions with simple living organisms such as kidney bean sprouts that I grow in cotton balls.
Bio
Originally from Quito, Ecuador, Carla Contreras is a multidisciplinary visual artist and educator living and working in Atlanta since 2016, when she came to pursue her M.F.A degree in Painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Contreras’s artwork deals with ideas related to the human condition, the seek for balance, and connection with nature. Her work has been exhibited at MOCA Ga, The Mint Museum (Charlotte, NC), The Hambidge Art Auction, the ART PAPERS Auction The Callanwolde Fine Art Center, The Johns Creek Art Center, The Lovett School, Pace Academy, The Coca-Cola Head Quarters, SCAD Art Sales, The Shops at Buckhead, O/Art and The City Auction, and local contemporary galleries like MINT, EYP/100, Besharat, FreeMarket Gallery. Contreras has been featured in covers, publications, and reviews for the AJC Journal, ELYSIAN Magazine’s Arts and Culture 2020 issue, SCAD Connector, BuckHaven Lifestyle Magazine, Studio Visit Magazine, BURNAWAY, ArtsATL, SHOUTOUT Atlanta, The VoyageATL Magazine for their “Thought Provokers: celebrating artists & creatives” Series, Univision 34 Atlanta, La Vision Atlanta Radio and Newspaper.
You can learn more about her work on the links below:
https://www.wescover.com/creator/carlacontrerasart
http://voyageatl.com/interview/check-carla-contrerass-artwork/
https://www.thehuntressllc.com/carlacontrerasart
https://www.instagram.com/carla.contreras.art/?hl=en
https://www.scadartsales.com/art/artists/carla-contreras https://info.loupeart.com/carla-contreras-artist
Resume
Installation
CARLA.CONTRERAS 