Mónica Ferreras De la Maza
Upcoming Talent Winter 2020
“Be honest, have faith that good will always prevail, be receptive, have positive attitude, respect others and yourself.”
Mónica Ferreras De la Maza, Contemporary Visual Artist
Mónica Ferreras De la Maza – about the artist
Mónica Ferreras De la Maza is a visual artist from the Dominican Republic currently based in Basel, Switzerland. Ferreras De la Maza has exhibited her work in galleries and cultural centers in her country, the United States, Europe, China and Australia.
Ferreras De la Maza has also participated in numerous important collective exhibitions inside and outside her country, some of these are: FIRST INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL OF ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay; RECONNECTING, ARK Gallery, Shanghai, China; BAMEQUINOX 2014, Ixchel Museum, Guatemala City, Guatemala; ARCHIDONA FILM FESTIVAL, ULTRAMAR CYCLE, Archidona, Murcia, Spain; III WEEK OF IBERO-AMERICAN VIDEO, Andalusian Film Library, Córdoba, Spain; ENTRE-VUES, Fondation Clement, Martinique; LATITUDES Exposition D^art Contemporain, Hotel de Ville de Paris, Paris, France; VISIONARIOS, Experimental Video, Centro ITAU Cultural, Sao Paulo, Brazil; EL JUEGO DE LA DIFERENCIA, Museo de Arte de Caguas, Puerto Rico; INSIDE AND OUT, Recent Trends in the Arts of the Dominican Republic, Inter.-American Development Bank Cultural Center, Washington, DC, USA; VIDEOAKT, GlogauAIR Art Center, Berlin, Germany; ISLAND NATION, RISD Museum, Providence, RI, USA; ETTER COLUMBUS.COM, Contemporary Art from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Kunstnermes Hus, Oslo, Norway.
Un día rojo Maya Angelou me dijo
El hilo rojo que nos une I
Davidoff Art Initiative (DAI)
In 2013 she was granted the first residency given by the Davidoff Art Initiative (DAI) at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), Brooklyn, NY.
In 2010 she won one of the three egalitarian prizes of the most prestigious visual arts contest held in the Dominican Republic, in the XXIII Concurso de Arte E. León Jimenes.
In 2017 she was nominated (2017 and 2018) by the Cisneros Fontanals Foundation within the program “Grants and Commissions” in the category “mid-career artist“.
Ferreras has had 18 solo exhibitions in the Dominican Republic, the United States and Switzerland.
“I love colour, and in my work there is always a strong essence of colour…I have that from the powerful and bright light of the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean” – Mónica Ferrreras De la Maza..”
Otras tierras detrás del velo I
Te echo de menos-espacio vacío de mi corazón
20
List of countries and exhibitions: Paraguay, China, Guatemala, Spain, Martinique, France, Brazil, Puerto Rico, USA, Germany, Norway, Dominican Republic, Australia, Brasil, Turkey, Guatemala, Cuba, Argentina, Mexico and Italy.
blue
In most of her paintings “The blue reminds me of the mother land, represented in the Caribbean Sea and in the Atlantic” she quotes.
Otras tierras detrás del velo III-Mónica Ferreras
Mónica Ferreras De la Maza
Haus Oslo Ateliers
Oslostrasse 8-10
4142 Münchenstein/ Basel
Switzerland
+41(0)78.638.1891
www.monicaferrerasdelamaza.com
SOLO SHOWS
2018 CONECTANDO UN CHIN Y UN CHÓN, Cultural Center of Spain, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2017 INVISIBLE UNIVERSES, Ateliers Florenz, Basel, Switzerland.
2016 YOU NEVER KNOW, O’Local Gallery, Estavayer-le-Lac, Switzerland.
2015 CARIBBEAN CONNECTIONS, MultipleSpacing Gallery, Bern, Switzerland.
2014 LET IT BE, Lucy Garcia Gallery @ Moble, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2012 START WITH ME, Quinta Dominica Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2011 MAMBO A LO MAL CARIBE, Cultural Center of Spain, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2008 RE-EDUCATING MONICA, District & Co. Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2005 RECENT WORKS, El Espacio Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2003 WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE…, CRP / Arte Actual Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2002 GUIDELINES, Cultural Center of Spain, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2001 URBAN INTERVENTIONS, IV Caribbean Biennial, Ozama Fortress, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2000 MARKS, Casa de Bastidas Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
1998 TWELVE MONTHS, Leonora Vega Gallery, New York, New York, USA.
Otras tierras detrás del velo II-Mónica Ferreras
Save the date : Un Artiste Une Journee
Pop-up event in February www.instagram.com/unartisteunejournee
Meet Mónica Ferreras de la Maza
1. Tell us why you decided to become an Artist?
I don’t really have a why. I always knew that I wanted to be an artist.
2. What kind of artist do you consider yourself?
I am a conceptual artist if we do not think of conceptual art as in its original definition, but rather look at it with more open and contemporary eyes. Although my paintings and drawings might seem abstract (by the purist definition of it) they are not, because they have a concept behind. Beside painting and drawing, I have also done installations and video art along my career time.
3. Do you have any mentors or advisors?
Right now I don’t have but I have had in early stages of my career like the New York artist Anne Tabachnick, the Dutch artist Joop Beljon and the Dominican artist Fernando Ureña Rib.
4. How is your artistic process when creating work?
I usually like to create a body of work which consist of a certain amount of pieces gathered together under the same concept. This body of work can be done using different mediums for instance paintings and video arts or drawings and once I have the idea or concept that I would like to explore, I start with a process of investigation before it goes into the execution period. When it comes to the formal aspects of the art piece it will depend a lot if it is a painting, a drawing, installation or video art. For paintings and drawings I don’t do sketches, thus it is an intuitive process, but when it comes to installations or video art, then I need to do a lot of thinking, writing and sketches in order to be precise in the execution of the art work.
5. Name three artist you admire.
I admire very much Henry Matisse, Bill Viola and Franz Gertsch.
El hilo rojo que nos une II
She was the first artist in residence for the Davidoff Art Residency.
Universos vitales-Mónica Ferreras
6. Have you overcome any challenges in your career?
Uff, many… Rejection is the biggest challenge…
7. Has gallery representation always been your dream or working independently been more beneficial? Or both?
Well I have been working with galleries for many years but right now I am working with a dealer and this proves very well. With both there are advantages and disadvantages. For instance, with the gallery I made less money because they take higher commission than a dealer but with a dealer I get less public exposure because they work more in a private context, contacting directly with clients like collectors.
8. Tell us one of the weirdest or funniest moments of your career.
When filming one of my videos “pardon me, I would like to dream”, I organised a cast of street kids. To start the shooting day, I offered them a nice breakfast and then we went to the film location. Once we arrived, they jumped off the truck, gave me smile and took off…
9. What advice would you give to an emerging artist?
To have faith, not in a religious way but meaning to believe that is possible to pursue a career as an artist and to make a living from it without betraying your art and personal believes.
10. As you reflect, what have been the influencing factors in your Art career?
Passion, faith, honesty and perseverance.
11. What are you currently working on?
Recently my work has changed dramatically formally and conceptually speaking. I am working on a kind of subtle out of this world type of landscapes using mainly watercolor with color and graphite pencil on watercolor paper as medium. I am also planning to make 3D pieces like sculptures inspired on these pieces.
Mónica Ferreras de la Maza
Ferreras De la Maza is a free artist awakening to self-representation looking for the inner energy and light.
www.monicaferrerasdelamaza.com
Photos copyright by: Mónica Ferreras De la Maza and Gerri McLaughlin.
