Alicia Paz
Alicia Paz is an artist based in London, working internationally. Born in Mexico City, Paz graduated from UC Berkeley, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Paris, Goldsmiths College and Royal College of Art London. Over several years, Alicia Paz has focused on the tension between artifice/ illusion and the veracity of actual processes involved in painting, exposing the duplicitous nature of representation. Through her work, she explores notions of hybridity, assemblage, and metamorphosis, focusing particularly on the female figure: the self is experienced and presented as multiple, fluid, paradoxical. Paz's paintings are as much portraits as  they are landscapes, combining references that range from erudite painting or the history of the painted image, to citations of advertising images or comics. Inhabiting fantastical and exotic landscapes, Paz's feminine subjects become fused and combined with organic life. Strange and unsettling visions of tree-women and monster-women also represent the fusion of the subject with "painting" itself: she often depicts amphibian or plant-like figures “weeping” pigment, their limbs, hair, and various ornamental accoutrements mud-caked and dripping, as if extracted from a colourful, post-cognitive swamp. In August 2017 Paz unveiled her first public sculpture commission  at in Magdeburg, titled "Insel der Puppen (Island of Dolls)," in steel and enamel. Paz is working on a larger research and production project exploring the network of women that are playing an important rule in her life, personally and professionally. Her project is supported by the Arts Council England. She developed her research it into three exhibition, each specifically adapted to the location and with new work for each show. The first installation was "Río y Mar (River and Sea)" at the Beecroft Art Gallery in Southend-on-Sea, part of "Estuary 2021", followed by "River Makers" at the  Visual Arts Centre in North Lincolnshire, both in 2021, and finally "Juntas (Together)" at the in Paris in early 2022. Exhibitions. Solo exhibitions (selection). 2022: , Paris, "Juntas" 2021: Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, "River Makers" 2021: Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, "Río y Mar (River and Sea)" 2010: LAC Narbonne, in association with FRAC Languedoc-Rousillon for "Casanova Forever", Sigean France 2007: Unit 2 Gallery, London Metropolitan University, London UK 2006: Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK 2005: Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina 2000: Galerie Yvonamor Palix, Paris, France Group exhibitions (selection). 2021: Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend UK, "Río y Mar  (River and Sea), as part of Estuary 2021" 2012: "Through the Looking Glass", The Agency Gallery, London, UK 2011: "Round and Round and Round (Part 2)", exhibition drawn from the FRAC IDF Collection, curated by Xavier Franceschi, Parc culturel de Rentilly, France 2009: "Multiverse", curated by Ole Hagen, Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London, UK 2008: "Jerwood Contemporary Painters", Jerwood Space, London, UK 2007: "Celeste Art Prize", selected by Goldsmiths College Curating MA, London, UK 2007: Incheon Biennale, Incheon, South Korea 2006: "John Moores 24", selectors: Peter Blake, Tracey Emin, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Biennial, UK 2004: "EAST International", selectors: Neo Rauch , Gerd Harry Lybke, Norwich, UK "2004: Mind the Gap, 10 London Artists", sponsored by British Council, Triangle, Marseille, France 1999: "ZAC 99", collaboration directed by "Bureau d'Etudes" and Jota Castro, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France 1998:"Tamayo Museum Biennale", Oaxaca, Mexico Awards, grants and residencies. 2022: Cité internationale des arts, Paris 2022: residency at the Leonora Carrington Museum, Mexico 2002: Triangle France, Artist's Residency, La Friche de la Belle de Mai, Marseilles, France 2002: Cité internationale des arts, Artist's Residency in Paris 2001: Gasworks Artist's Residency, London, UK 2001: Grant awarded by Fondo Nacional  para la Cultura y las Artes, Mexico 1999: Delfina Studio Trust Residency, London, UK