The people we know color our lives with emotions and experiences whether it’s a friend’s radiant glow, gloomy aura, or the vibration of their lived experience.
In Marianna Olague’s new exhibition, People You Know, she explores familial relationships through a series of highly saturated portraits. In this new series of work by the Cranbrook Academy of Art graduate, she paints her loved ones including family members and friends that have become chosen family. The show is on view at David Klein Gallery in Detroit.
Olague’s deep use of color brings her subjects to life on the canvas. But more than just being photo-realistic depictions, she captures her loved ones’ essence, as if their spirit is imbued within the paint. A painting of a lonely dog, “Onyx,” in shades of admiral, berry, and midnight blue feels solemn as the dog stands in a sliver of light just bright enough to illuminate its eye but not to penetrate the air of gloom.
In “The Quickening,” a proud mother shines in pink so soft you can almost feel the satin of her robe. Lush foliage grows behind her, mirroring new life, as the sun seems to rise and set upon her. Elsewhere, in a painting called “Zen Eddie,” she reproduces her subject’s soft aura in radiant shades of yellow like bumble bees pollinating sunflowers. Eddie appears again in another piece, this time as “The Eddie” holding a bass guitar with an aura of a muted rainbow.
“Adding layers of saturated color to the canvas is my way of savoring a singular moment… I’m also adhering to the Mexican tradition of re-coloring the world around me,” Olague said in a statement on the paintings.
Like Olague, all of her subjects share Mexican-American heritage. Olague was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, and uses her paintings to examine Mexican-American identity. She has a Master of Fine Art in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of El Paso. Her work has been shown at Cranbrook Art Museum, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., San Antonio’s McNay Museum, and beyond.
Her painting, “Customer Service Representative, 2020” is part of The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today, which opened at the Smithsonian Museum’s National Portrait Gallery in April and will travel to museums across Orland, Florida; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Grand Rapids through 2024.
People You Know reflects change, milestones, and challenges in her loved ones’ lives.
“I’m interested in how the people I know grow and change over time and how this evolution can be captured through portraiture,” the artist said.
Where to see her work: People You Know opens on Saturday, Nov. 11, and will be on view at David Klein Gallery in Detroit until Dec. 23. An opening reception is scheduled for Nov. 11 from 5-9 p.m.
Subscribe to Metro Times newsletters.
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
