Known for her delectable, frilly, occasionally ominous acrylic paintings made with bakery tools, Yvette Mayorga (previously) nods to memories of her mother working as a baker and references Baroque and Rococo art while critically examining family, community, and notions of prosperity.
Mayorga’s pieces are “dominated by shades of pink to critically examine the American Dream and the Latinx experience, often borrowing compositions from personal and family photos and art history,” says Monique Meloche Gallery, which presents a solo show of the artist’s work opening this weekend.
Pu$h Thru, the artist’s first show with the gallery and the first in her hometown of Chicago since 2018, takes a semi-autobiographical approach by reflecting on her experiences during the last decade in the city. Beyond her characteristic confection-inspired works, she has created large-scale compositions incorporating found objects like lampshades, clothing, and jewelry, along with bits of ceramic, pastels, gold foil, acrylic nails, and more.
Many of these works draw on Mayorga’s personal memories, like snapshots of the artist as a child during a birthday party or sitting in her family’s living room. Converging with romantic Rococo aesthetics and style, like portraits modeled after Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun or Jean-Honoré Fragonard, the artist addresses the Euro-centric narrative of art history and its overarching omission of other identities. Mayorga has even coined a term to describe her approach, “Latinxoco,” which merges Latinx identity with Rococo aesthetics.
“Pink, a color that has a long history with Mayorga’s practice, is deployed as a conceptual strategy to destabilize Western ideals of skin tone, evoking questions of race, class, and gendered embodiment while also referencing cosmetic and domestic aesthetics—an ironic and radical reclamation of softness as strength,” the gallery says.
Pu$h Thru runs from June 14 to July 26. See more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
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