SAN JUAN, PR.- The Puerto Rican artist Isabella Mellado presents at the Walter Otero Contemporary Art Gallery in San Juan, an exhibition of his works from 2017 to the present titled Magical Realism. The paintings that are part of the exhibition address themes related to the artist's belonging to the queer community, the gender binary and the sense of duality inherent in living in the diaspora. The exhibition will also be presented until February 25 from Tuesday to Friday from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm and on Saturdays by appointment.

Through her paintings, Mellado studies her identity and how she has experienced it in different contexts, keeping in mind that, for most, life is a process of masking and acting in order to feel that we belong. For this very reason, the artist herself states that her artistic practice is best described with the phrase “jumping the puddle”.

Her works centralize the queer narrative, framing it with symbolism borrowed from mythology, tarot, and astrology. Likewise, her works are usually contextualized in Puerto Rico.

“Because I am part of the diaspora, my paintings have always tried to take into account the puddle, that is, the feeling of not fully belonging to a local Puerto Rican or diaspora community. Furthermore, … the puddle also describes what it means to be queer and the contrast between moving through conservative spaces and LGBTQ+ safe environments,” she stated.

In the exhibition you will be able to appreciate paintings that illustrate figures intentionally posed in front of a shallow space. Reverently painted, the figures are larger than the viewer, looking directly at him. Props such as papier-mâché masks and modified found objects are used, which are then made to form part of a staged photograph with one or more models. The resulting images are then combined into a composition used to create the painting. Thus, the result of the meticulous photographic process carried out by Mellado are paintings of theatrical style and composition.

Mellado is currently pursuing a master's degree at the Chicago Art Institute, it is the most prestigious painting institute in the USA. She will soon be exhibiting at the Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago.