Helena La Rota López is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, who emigrated to the US a decade ago. She currently holds a BFA in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA in painting and anatomy from the New York Academy of Art, does printmaking at the Art Students League, and maintains her studio practice in Ridgewood while developing her Bestiary project. Her work is a tightrope walk between clinical and romantic; an organic web fusing performing art with visual art methods by researching the body as architectural construction, narrative symbol, and sensorial portal. La Rota López has exhibited in group shows in the U.S. and Italy and has been interviewed for STIRworld magazine and Paradice Palase.
"Fragmentos|Reflexiones (Fragments|Reflections)"
2022-23
Mixed media: ink/white chalk/charcoal/graphite/red chalk/watercolor/silverpoint/oil/chrome paint and embroidery thread on stretched paper/veil/linen
This work in progress is a game of mirrors: a series of experiments stemming from the self-portrait; our body is the most convenient and habitual model we have. Its reflection accompanies us in solitude and evidences our biography with physical marks. Inside each circle I enclose reflections about the personal, cultural, and historical significance of each fragment. Each reflection is punctured by needlework, symbol of feminine entrapment and liberation.