Details

First Name

Mikaela

Last Name

Montenegro

Username

mikaelam

Bio

Mikaela Montenegro (1997). Quito – Ecuador.

Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Central University of Ecuador. She studied abroad at the School of Fine Arts in Paris. Her work, focused on painting, explores themes related to mental disorders and the construction of the subject in contemporary society. Her work draws on genres related to figuration and landscape primarily. However, she has also explored other mediums such as video art and installation. She has participated in various group and solo exhibitions in recognized institutions both within and outside the country. Currently, she lives and works in Quito as an independent artist and Visual Arts teacher.

Website

mmontenegroi.wordpress.com

Country of residence

Ecuador

Statement

Statement

Creation requires constant exploration, an open mind to chaos, thought, feeling, and observation. As an artist, my relationship with reality is interested in gestures, moments, sensations, and almost imperceptible aspects of everyday life, which, when captured, can open the door to countless possibilities. Although my work focuses on painting, I am interested in experimenting and merging it with new mediums. In our society, characterized by excessive speed, there is power in meticulously constructing a tangible object from ideas that have been hidden and made invisible.

Thus, the themes that have surrounded my most recent projects revolve around the current human condition, emphasizing its vulnerability and fluidity. Some recurring concepts are isolation and mental disorders, as issues that do not belong only to certain individuals but are immersed and diverted in all social entities. In this way, I use photography and cinema as my main resources in my creative process. I refer to philosophical exponents such as Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault, and artists like Francis Bacon, Gerhard Richter, among others. I rely on genres such as landscape and figuration, which operate as metaphors to evoke various sensations around the mentioned ideas, but not as illustrations that explicitly communicate what is shown. I believe in art as a means for questioning and reflection. Art as the creation of new worlds. Art as escape and a line of flight.

Exhibitions

Exhibitions

Collective Exhibitions

2023

  • Solidaridad – Hospital de los Valles Foundation. Quicentro Shopping. Quito – Ecuador.
  • Intangible Bodies – Ananke. Quito – Ecuador.

2022

  • Multiverse. Q Gallery – USFQ. Quito – Ecuador.
  • Approaches. Municipal Government of Ambato. Ambato – Ecuador.
  • Mediations for Painting. Painting to See the World. La Minga Gallery. Quito – Ecuador.

2021

  • Uncertainties, Narratives of a Transformed Society. National Museum of Ecuador. Quito – Ecuador.
  • Contemporary Art Exhibition in honor of San Pedro de Pelileo. Municipal Government. Ambato – Ecuador.

2020

  • 6th National Drawing Salon “April 21st”. Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Chimborazo nucleus. Riobamba – Ecuador.
  • 50th Luis A. Martínez Painting Salon. Edmundo Martínez Mera Pictorial Museum. Ambato – Ecuador.
  • Graphic Ramada – Exhibition of engravers in homage to Ginés Contreras. Virtual.
  • Colectivo 4 Puntos – Species of Spaces. Wampra – Arte. Quito – Ecuador.

2019

  • 2nd Azogues Painting Salon. CCE, Cañar nucleus. Azogues – Ecuador.
  • Unfinished Constructs. Contemporary Art Center. Quito – Ecuador.
  • 60th July Salon. Municipal Museum. Guayaquil – Ecuador.
  • Qu’est-ce que tu fais? Beaux-arts de Paris. Paris – France.
  • Collectif 3 par 9 – Our imaginary prisons. La Conciergerie. Paris – France.

Individual Exhibitions

2023

  • The Body Says No. Chinaski Gallery. Quito – Ecuador.

2022

  • Invisible Walls. Alliance Française de Quito. Quito – Ecuador.

2021

  • Disjointed. El Útero – Cultural Space. Quito – Ecuador.

2018

  • The Sea, Antithesis of Existence. Pentasiete Art Studio. Quito – Ecuador.

Interests and medias

Interests

Collage, Drawing, Filmmaking / Video art, Mixed media, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture

Painting medias

Acrylic, Ink, Oil, Watercolor

Drawing medias

Acrylic, Chalk, Charcoal, Graphite, Ink

Filmmaking / video art medias

Video installation

Printmaking medias

Aquatint, Etching, Monotype, Offset printing

Collage medias

Photomontage, Digital collage / eCollage

Sculpture medias

Ceramics, Clay

Photography

Digital image