With Masks_B Painting

Monica is an Oakland based New York City raised artist and educator. She has been teaching architecture design, art and digital media since 2000 both at the high school and college level. The paintings explore fluctuations between disfiguration and figuration between layered fields/buddings and familiar beings. The picture plane is amassed to create spatial amplification for the figures to oscillate and dialogue in tension with the viewer. The work is inspired by graffiti and urban street art culture. The dark contour is a critical aspect for linking the figures as a continuous text. The figures are positioned between realism and illustration. This is especially evident in the portraits. The bodies disfigure into lines and anchor the portraits into the painted field.