Established Gallery is pleased to present luz azul, an exhibition of new work by Chelsea Ramírez. This exhibition marks the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York City, featuring a series of soft, charcoal drawings that visualize the sentimental relationship between people and river. Imbued with a somber tone and resonance that functions as a kind of intimate portraiture, Ramírez elevates the experience of migration, revealing it as a natural and dignified human right.
luz azul celebrates still and flowing waters through glowing blue, figurative compositions that evoke private moments of respite, comfort, and care. Made with charcoal, salt, coffee, and other water-activated materials, the works depict obscured, ghost-like portraits of family that appear to emerge and submerge simultaneously. This ebb and flow echoes the manner in which memories unravel–a combination of visual and emotional nostalgia that tether us to feelings, to each other, and to ourselves reshaped into our own outward, visible rituals. With these new drawings, Ramírez offers an emboldened view of migration that defies the biased notions associated with displacement and reimagines a deeper, more-nuanced understanding of home and belonging.
luz azul will be on display from February 4th to February 27th, with an artist reception February 4th 6pm -9:30pm. Due to COVID vaccinations are required and masks will be required at all times.
About the Artist:
Chelsea Ramírez (b. 1988) is a visual artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work subtly illuminates the nuanced, sentimental attachment to home.
Ramírez studied at the Edinburgh College of Art and Design in Scotland (2009) and received her B.F.A from the University of Central Florida in Orlando (2011). She completed her MFA from Louisiana State University (2015), where she was an Instructor of Record. Her work has been shown at the Huntsville Museum of Art in Huntsville, Alabama; Prospect 3+: BR Invitational in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; La Bodega Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; Denise Bibro Fine Art in Chelsea, NYC; and the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, NYC; BAM Rudin Family Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; amongst others. She has been published in The Artist’s Working journal (2016), Flyway Journal (2017), and Soy Mujerista (2019) and was selected for the 2021 US Latinx Art Forum CHISPA series.