Marianela de la Hoz Opens Our Eyes and Minds with Stardust (Polvo de Luz) at Art Produce

 By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt. (except as noted) 

The artist with two of her paintings: Sensemayá, Snakes down my back 
and Pietá, Death and the Maiden.

 

At Art Produce Gallery in North Park, while news of heated demonstrations, shootings, and worldwide crises keeps swirling around us, Marianela de la Hoz is presenting a surreally beautiful alternative: a concerned artist’s way of considering what it means to be human, and how we might begin to view each other as parts of the same cosmos.

“Everything living and non-living is composed of structurally identical elements: stardust,” she writes in her artist’s statement. “The result from these chemical reactions produces light, but this light…can both reveal and blind.” 

Facing her own anxiety and fears, she created Stardust, “a space of daydreaming, desires, and fantasies” that offers viewers possibilities of exploring new conversations. She quotes the beloved, too-soon-departed astronomer Carl Sagan: “We are a mote of dust suspended in a ray of sunshine.”

Marianela’s paintings are small, brilliantly detailed, and infused with a dark sense of humor. She uses egg tempera, a 15^th-century technique that requires precision and dedication. On her website, she writes: “My paintings are intimate…the intention is to make the observer come closer…I open the key to the imagination.”

Here’s a quote from a Woodstock-era song by Joni Mitchell that came to my mind when I came face to face with the 18 pieces in Stardust at the September 28^th opening at Art Produce:

“We are stardust, we are golden, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.”

 

Roxana Velásquez, Executive Director of San Diego Museum of Art, with Marianela, whom she has known since they first formed a connection in Mexico City many years ago. At the opening, the two laughed to see they were dressed alike. “We are in the same band,” Marianela said.

Now here’s a chance to look at some of the images, and hopefully make your way to the gallery to see them in person, since Stardust will be on view through November 16.

 

Her artificial song does not move.

I will restore you leaving golden and unforgettable scars. A portrait of the artist’s grandson.  (Photo courtesy of the artist)

I’ll wait, you already carry me inside.

Not my problem.

The artificial Sin.

I see eternity through Gaia’s eyes.

In the beginning.

Reflection on “rEvolution”

Stardust, at Art Produce Gallery
3139 University Avenue, San Diego CA 92104
Hours: Thursday and Friday: 2-5 p.m. (entry through Gallery)
Saturday and Sunday: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. (entry through Botanica)

 

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net