Cómo me Convertí en Lava
This text was written by Tsering Frykman-Glen the curator of the show:
“Cómo me Convertí en Lava” (How I Became Lava) is the culmination of a year-long exploration into the intersection of sensuality, the female form, and artistic creation. The exhibition showcases landscapes that may evoke destruction or new beginnings, as a means of exploring the process of creation and transformation. While originally focused on a pessimistic view of the future, the exhibition has evolved to focus on acceptance and the concept of becoming lava.
The word "lava" derives from the Italian and Latin words for "fall" and "slide", respectively, and represents a transformational process of freely descending into an essential form that solidifies and changes shape.
The exhibition aims to depict the journey from idea to final creation, exploring the process of painting and transformation. The towering female figure that dominates the landscapes eventually realizes that she must become lava - a form that allows for free descent and radical transformation.
The artist's Caribbean identity also comes to the fore, seeking to express itself through the cracks of a life lived outside of the Dominican Republic.
Maria Monegro's art practice is defined by several key elements, these include the uses of the erotic, the Caribbean as identity and landscape, the representation of the female body, and solastalgia.
In the “Uses of the Erotic”, Audre Lorde describes the erotic as a power that we can all access. Drawing inspiration from this, Maria is very interested in representing this power to inspire joy.
Having been born and raised in the Dominican Republic, but now living in Catalonia, the Caribbean is an inescapable part of Maria's identity and artistic inspiration. One of the recurring themes in Maria's work is the representation of the female body as a colossal figure that exudes power, and yet chooses to be tender.
Maria is equally interested in exploring the anxiety and horror that comes with living through the age of climate change, which she does through her exploration of solastalgia - which describes the distress caused by environmental change that impacts our homes and environment.
Maria's recent focus has been on oil painting, creating mid to large-scale paintings that grow increasingly detached from reality. Her creative process typically involves creating studies in the form of drawings or watercolours, which she then uses to construct a digital collages to guide her and finally, the paintings themselves.
Her artistic influences come from a wide range of painters and movements, with choices of composition drawn from Salvador Dali or Velasquez and freedom of palette inspired by artists such as Lisa Yuskavage or Robin Francesca Williams. Maria sees her work as part of the new wave of Caribbean painters, alongside artists such as Koko Toribio and Franz Caba.
María Monegro is a Caribbean painter currently based in Catalonia. Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, she graduated from the Altos de Chavón School of Design (DR) and Parsons School of Design (NY).
Maria's work revolves around medium and large-format oil paintings that explore themes of love, sex, and the uses of the erotic. Her work also incorporates her Caribbean identity as a landscape, and she frequently represents the female body as a colossal figure that is both powerful and tender, capable of crushing you but choosing to leave you alive.
In addition to her focus on the erotic and the female form, Monegro is also interested in exploring the anxiety and potential for the world's end brought on by the climate crisis. Through her paintings, she creates imaginary and diverse possibilities for how the world could meet its end.
Maria's work has been exhibited in various galleries and art spaces both in Spain, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere internationally. She has been awarded residencies at Tangent Projects (2021), RARO Barcelona (2021) and Associació Cultural La Volta, Girona (2022-2024).