Dappled, struck and colliding, Marisa Contreras Marulanda’s abstract expressionist paintings stand at the ready, shouting powerful messages. Colors break and stretch the canvas, allowing the artist’s truth to shine through.
Whether through swooping strokes or bubbling mirage, Contreras Marulanda’s works are riddled with emotion and curiosity. As someone who has lived a captivating life, Contreras Marulanda’s art practice reflects a powerful existence. An academic by trade, the artist holds a PhD in Gender Studies and Equality Politics. Her work as an academic informs her painting in that she looks to express her layered experiences as a Colombian refugee and woman who has lived in three different countries. Through her work, one can view through the artist’s lens what she has felt as a witness to three kidnappings of family members by the Colombian guerrilla, moving countries at one week’s notice, and falling in love with a German man who is now her husband.
With strong conviction regarding the rights of the marginalized, Contreras Marulanda’s work includes political messages like in Feeling Ukraine: fragmented blue and yellow rectangles splay and mingle in the center of the piece. In My Parallel Polis and Glyphosate reflect political messages of the artist-academic as well, reporting on topical issues in the world today. Contreras does not limit her artistic gifts to social causes however. She is also capable of expressing her deep sensitivity, romanticism and dreams, as seen in her pieces Passion and Dreaming Cherry Blossoms.
Contreras Marulanda lives and works in Arlington, Virginia.
MARISA CONTRERAS ON
Caribbean Breeze, 2022
$4000
Dreaming Cherry Blossoms, 2022
Acrylic with modeling paste on canvas
24” x 36”
Witch with Broom, 2005
Acrylic on canvas
35” x 46”
Art has always been my consolation in the most difficult moments of my life, but it has also been a faithful companion in joyous moments. I use abstract expressions to communicate feelings, emotions, energy; all the manifestations that cannot be conveyed with words or actions. I express myself primarily through the wide variety of my color palette and the strength of my strokes. Many times, communication flows spontaneously in the style of Action Painting. Other times, it is the result of clear ideas or thoughts appearing in the form of revelations or dreams. Some of my works have a political underpinning, as related to current events. To me, art is a vital necessity, a universal language that everybody understands; a mind-field in which energy flows and connects us beyond all borders; that place where everything makes sense.
ORIGINAL MARISA CONTRERAS ARTWORKS ON
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