Louis Stern Fine Arts will open the exhibition Ana Mercedes Hoyos: Recent Paintings & Works on Paper on May 4, 1996. This will be the artist’s first West Coast exhibition. A reception will be held in conjunction with the other West Hollywood Gallery openings on Saturday, May 4, from 5pm-9pm.
Critics have noted the relationship of Hoyo’s work to Pop Art, most notably to artists such as Lichtenstein, Hopper, and Warhol. Bright, tropical colors and dramatically exaggerated lighting are two of the main elements of Hoyo’s paintings. Her photographically-cropped portraits and still life paintings and drawings symbolically illustrate the daily life of the people of her homeland.
The exhibition at Louis Stern Fine Arts will feature paintings and drawings from three different series:
-"Bazurto," which depicts the colorful marketplaces along Colombia’s Caribbean coast, in towns whose population is comprised of the descendants of slaves from West Africa.
-"Universo de Julia," a series of dramatic portraits of Julia, an African-Colombian woman whom Hoyos has befriended during her travels. The portraits sensitively convey the melding of the African and Latin American cultures, as well as the female experience. Hoyos emphasizes details and textures, painted in tropical patterns and colors.
-"Bodegones," which is a series of lush, brightly painted still life paintings of tropical fruits, in which details, colors, and textures are magnified and exaggerated.
The work of Ana Mercedes Hoyos has attracted more international attention than that of any Colombian artist since Botero. Born in 1942 in Bogotá, Hoyos has painted for over 35 years. Her work has been shown in museum and gallery exhibitions throughout the world. A partial list: Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá, Colombia; The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.
Ana Mercedes Hoyos: Recent Paintings & Works on Paper will be on view during gallery hours: Tuesday through Friday, 10am-6pm and Saturday, 11am-5pm. Parking is available on the street and in the Apcoa parking lot on Melrose Avenue, west of Almont Drive.