MERCEDES ELENA GONZALEZ | Ojivas

June 11, 2021 - September 10, 2021

META Miami and Henrique Faria New York are pleased to present Ojivas by Mercedes Elena González a solo exhibition in the foundation Wynwood’s space.

The works in this exhibition are called Ojivas, from the french word Ogive, a pointed arch. They also share an element taken from decades-old drawings: the Vulvosas, the everlasting retracted vertical smile. In its appearance, the grouping uses geometry and color in the same way as an ion, attracting a hidden discourse that is both distant from the purposes of Modernism’s disciplines, and, even more, that subverts them. 

It is formalist because of the recurring geometric patterns that give planar structure, and it is conceptual for its indisputable critical capacity, expressed in virtue of the political subject, or what has been called “affective feminism”. 

In this exhibition, the artist symbolically resolves the controversial synthesis of geometry and representation, and she does it with sharpness and intuition: investigating through her creative processes, lifting layers of light and shadow in this restless “archive” that awaits in her studio. 

Mercedes Elena González (Caracas, Venezuela, 1952) studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, from 1976-1980. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions including Dilatantes, META Miami (2019); Vulvosas: A Feminine Ecology, Henrique Faria, New York, 2018; September 1955, Henrique Faria, New York (2014); Pelikan, Faría + Fábregas Galería, Caracas (2009); Obra Recente, Galería Valu Oria, São Paulo (2008); Bichus Invasion, Signature Art Gallery, Miami (2006); Entretejimientos, Sala Alternativa, Caracas (2001) and Dibujos, La Librería, Sala Mendoza, Caracas (1982 and 1977), among others. She has participated in group shows such as Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985, Brooklyn Museum, New York; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paolo, São Paolo and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2017); Ciudad Volátil, Centro Cultural Chacao, Caracas (2011); Figuración-Fabulación, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas (2004); Muestra 2, Sala Alternativa, Mexico City (2003); La mujer venezolana en las artes, Wang Fu Gallery, Beijing; Festival Internacional de La Peinture, Cagnes-sur-Mer, France (1995); Salón Nacional de Jóvenes Artistas, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Sofía Imber, Caracas (1981) and Once Tipos, Sala Mendoza, Caracas (1978). González has been featured in publications like the New Yorker and she has won numerous awards for her work, including the Premio Armando Reverón, from Salón Michelena, Caracas (2002); the Gran Premio Salón Nacional de Arte Aragua, Salón Aragua (2001) and the Bolsa de Trabajo CONAC, (1976). Her work is included in both private and public collections internationally. She lives and works in Caracas.

A portion of all proceeds will be donated to Acción Solidaria.