New York based Virtuoso of Art and Illustration Venezuelan Artist Hermann Mejía Brings His Abstract Series to Sophia Contemporary Gallery for a Solo Pop Up Show

Sophia Contemporary Gallery opens a pop up exhibition dedicated to Hermann Mejía (﴾1973)﴿, a Venezuelan-born, New York based visual artist. Named "one of the 15 Venezuelan artists of all times you should know” by The Huffington Post, Mejía is widely known for his work as a comics illustrator. This time around Mejía brings a series of abstract works that is a blended product of elements of street art, cartoon illustration and contemporary abstraction.

After starting drawing at a very early age, his prodigy drawing skills lead him to studying illustration and painting. His early experience in doing comics began with the appearances of American MAD Magazine in Venezuela in the early eighties, the magazine he later received his first assignment from in April 1997, and continues this collaboration until now. His style and technique have been heavily influenced by artists such as Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, the surrealists, and even Street art. Currently Mejía continues working relentlessly in both directions - on this fine art production, as well as on his commercial illustration projects, from his studio in Brooklyn.

Hermann Mejía’s fine paintings dissolve scenes of daily life into dynamic compositions by blending elements of figuration and abstraction. Inspired by the striking landscape of his native country Venezuela, as well as the urban jungle of New York where he resides, Mejía distorts, deconstructs and abstracts figurative elements through his broad colourful and gestural brushstrokes. Blending elements of street art, cartoon illustration and contemporary abstraction, the artist alters the perception of reality through the prism of painterly illusion. Figurative shapes, faces and bodies evaporate, implode and fragment to create a whole where the referent object is not always visible at first sight. Only through careful consideration of the disparate elements can the eye of the viewer make sense of the subject matter beneath the abstract composition.

The solo exhibition takes place within 'Shifting Landscapes', the current group show of contemporary American artists exploring abstraction through painting, photography and sculpture. Featuring six artists - Afruz Amighi, Iva Gueorguieva, Herman Mejía, Amir Nikravan, Holton Rower and Hannah Whitaker - the exhibition reflects on the evolving nature of American art. Casting a light on the diversity of contemporary approaches to abstraction, the works explore the artists’ impact on the landscape of art and American culture, across generations and disciplines.
Hermann Mejía has been featured in many group and solo exhibitions in the USA and internationally. His work has recently been the subject of a mid-career retrospective at the Contemporary Museum of Caracas, Venezuela.

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Website: www.hermannmejia.com
Instagram: @hermannmejia
Twitter: @HermannMejia