See Neighbor Sofia Maldonado’s Solo Exhibition Beginning This Week

Artist and recent transplant to Ditmas Park Sofia Maldonado is giving her third solo exhibition with Magnan Metz Gallery in Manhattan beginning this week:

Into Gray explores a transitional period in painting for Maldonado. Moving away from organic, tropical forms inspired by her Caribbean roots, Maldonado steps outside of her comfort zone to embrace new techniques and articulating the human experience with color. During this process the artist encountered feeling of frustration, rage and madness as she deconstructed her past. By painting over her familiar naturalistic forms with more angular strokes richly layered with darker colors, Maldonado took an introspective approach to the creative process. Still, glimpses of her recognizable Caribbean palette shine through as she delves into this new body of work.

In this exhibition of large-scale canvases, the viewer will encounter explosions of dramatic line work through colorfully layered palettes including metallic, shades of grays and bulky drips of yellow. The paintings are considerably more about lines, performance of texture and the layering process of acrylic and urethane. Bold brushstrokes converge with thick colorful paint drippings. Paintings that comprise the everyday elements encountered in New York City living, including the bleakness of winter, and the welcoming of spring.

If Sofia’s name sounds familiar, it might be because a mural she was commissioned to paint in Times Square generated some controversy back in 2010.

Beginning with an artist reception tomorrow evening, you can check out Sofia’s work at Magnan Metz through June 1st.