Contemporary, mixed-media exhibition at JCAL
Angela Miskis, an Ecuadorian-born artist, proudly presents a collection of exceptionally beautiful contemporary works of art, consisting of over 50 painting, drawing, and collages titled “It’s a Luxury to Look Back” a journey of empowerment, transferred from the artist’s making of the show to the individual who gets to see and experience her artwork in person.
The survey exhibition within the Jamaican Center for Arts and Learning (JACAL Miller Gallery), Queens, to and run until July 31, and curated by Terri Henderson, shows how the artist infuses each artwork with a radical vulnerability, selflessly creating a space for her to see herself and the viewer to locate familiarity within her paintings.
“My work is about finding balance and striving toward self-actualization through chaos and chance. I represent my mental health journey in my artwork – building a visual dictionary of my body and how it stores and communicates emotions from pain to liberation. I hope the viewer can see their own experience in my work and will help them find a way to understand their mind and body connection,” said Miskis, who in 2019, began creating stencils from recycled packaging materials that she digitized.
Miskis’ vibrant and emotional works reflect her journey growing up in America away from her roots in Ecuador and as the only child of a single parent battling undiagnosed mental illness. Angela’s brilliant work brings us together. Physically and emotionally, people can reconcile and reconvene before her artwork.
Every painting created from 2021 to 2022 echoes Miskis’ other artworks on display, spanning over a decade of her art career. With each remix and reuse, Miskis is not only processing her memories but carrying a thread of her personal history with her into new artwork. In her newest work, she developed the idea of using repetition to include stencils of her body.
“The characteristic variations feature prominently in the figures of one of Miskis’ newest works, “Nine Years to Say Goodbye.” In this work, Miskis depicts a journey of self-healing, from letting go of old beliefs, mourning your past selves, and moving forward. With “Nine Years to Say Goodbye,” Miskis opens a space to think about mental health and reflect on the experience of the “other” to foster empathy and human connection,” said Henderson.
Miskis who hails from the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, South America, graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2013 with a degree in Visual and Critical Studies. She has exhibited widely across the United States and has been included in a range of art festivals and art residencies. She has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Pine Plains Free Library (2019) and the Inter-Space Gallery and Lab (2015).
Her works have been exhibited as part of over 30 group presentations and have been featured in several print and online publications. Miskis’ recent honors include the Create Change Fellowship with The Laundromat Project, the Utopian Practice Fellowship with Culture Push, the Queens Council on the Arts New Work Grant, and the City Artists Corps Grant (2021). Miskis lives and works in Queens, N.Y.
www. JCAL.org, @abuela_neighborhood_maintenanc@Jamaicaartscenter
