Bio:
Helena La Rota López is a multidisciplinary artist based in Ridgewood, NY. Born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, she emigrated to study Liberal Arts at Sarah Lawrence College (BA 2016), then Painting and Anatomy at the New York Academy of Art (MFA 2019), and printmaking at the Art Students League (2020-22). Currently, she teaches at Montclair State University, NJ.
La Rota López is a recipient of the Thomas Wood Grant & Residency at Il Bisonte Printmaking Foundation in Florence (IT), the ICAA Exhibiting Artist Grant, the Cuttyhunk Island Artist’s Residency, the Woodward Guest Residency, the Kraczyna Studio Printmaking Residency in Barga (IT), as well as scholarship and research awards from the academic institutions she attended, the Patricia & Scott Moger Grant and the McGuire Cravens Endowment. Her work has been exhibited in the US and Italy, including group shows at the NADA Fair with Paradise Palace, the ICAA National Conference, the Collar Works Flat Files, the DFN Projects/Equity Gallery silverpoint show, the Parallels and Peripheries exhibition at the NYAA, the Susquehanna Art Museum, and the Colombian Consulate. She was interviewed for STIRworld magazine and Paradice Palase, and was depicted in National Geographic, Artists’ Magazine, and Barganews.
Artist Statement
My work is a tightrope walk between clinical and romantic. I fuse the languages of multiple disciplines into an organic web of fine arts and performing arts techniques, creating independent series or resulting in performative installations featuring my musical and choreographic compositions.
My research stems from the body: as architectural construction in anatomy; as symbol in folklore and mythology; as the bearer of our ancestors’ history and as vessel when storytelling; but mostly as a sensorial portal linking our minds to the world and to those around us. I question the social definitions that trap our bodies into states of otherness and deny us the right to occupy space, while also being curious about the rituals we engage in to occupy or reclaim it.
The concept of otherness has always fascinated me, particularly coming from a country torn apart by a polygonal armed conflict in which dehumanization is instrumentalized to carve a path for violence. Discrimination is a central axis of human conflict, from the personal to the global sphere. What most interests me about it is how the definition of the other is intrinsically tied to the definition of the self –where do we end and another begins? Is it our bodies, our boundaries, our beliefs or objectives, our cultural or geographical borders? How do we justify those separations to ourselves? Can we feel another’s pain or pleasure? Can we see another’s inner monsters, do they speak to us, remind us of our own?
I aim for my work to function as a mirror. Work operates both as action and object, in the same way as reflection does, and in my studio, work and reflection are one and the same.
CV
Education
2020-2022
Art Students League, New York, NY
Courses in Printmaking, Painting, Sculpture, and Critical Theory
2019
New York Academy of Art, New York, NY, Master of Fine Arts
Concentration: Painting, track in Anatomy
2016
Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY, Bachelor of Arts, degree in Liberal Arts
Concentrations: Visual Arts, Art History, Music, Literature, Theatre, Dance, Astronomy
2015
Sarah Lawrence College in Florence, Italy
Concentrations: Printmaking, Art History, Music, Italian language and literature
Residencies and Awards
2024
Thomas Wood Artist Residency and Grant at Il Bisonte Studio, Florence, Italy
2023
Cuttyhunk Island Artist Residency, Cuttyhunk, MA
Institute of Classical Architecture and Art Exhibiting Artist Grant, Charleston, SC
Woodward Residency, Spring Guest Artist, Queens, NY
2020
Patricia & Scott Moger Research Grant: 2019, 2020
2019
Summer Printmaking Residency, Kraczyna Studio, Barga, Italy: 2015, 2017, 2019
New York Academy of Art: Academy Scholar Award: 2017, 2018, 2019
2016
Annette McGuire Cravens ’45 Endowed Fund for Summer Internships in Visual Culture
Sarah Lawrence College – Presidential Scholarship: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
Paradice Palase booth at the NADA (New Art Dealers Association) Art Fair, Miami, FL
Enduring Beauty: Institute of Classical Architecture and Art National Conference Exhibition, Aikhen-Rhett House Museum, Charleston, SC
Composition, Manhasset Public Library, Manhasset, NY
Flat Files 2022-2023, Collar Works, Troy, NY
2022
The 7x5 Art Show: NYAE 75th Anniversary Fundraiser, Equity Gallery, New York, NY
Printmaking Student Showcase, Art Students League of New York, New York, NY
2021
Silver, DFN Projects & Equity Gallery, New York, NY
Parallels & Peripheries, New York Academy of Art (NYAA), New York, NY; curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah and Robyn Gibson, featured in the New York Times and Whitehot Magazine
This Must Be the Place, ChaShaMa & Art Students League of New York, Brooklyn, NY
Summer Exhibition, NYAA, New York, NY; juried by James Cohan, Monica King, Loreta Lamargese (Bortolomi Gallery), and Lauren Wittels (Luhring Augustine Gallery)
2020
Sensitive Material, Washington State University Tri-Cities Art Center, Richland, WA
Found Objects, Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA
2019
MFA Thesis Exhibition, NYAA, New York, NY
Artistry of Astronomy, C-Street Gallery at Drury University, Springfield, MO
2018
Take Home a Nude, Sotheby’s Auction House (NYAA), New York, NY
Ghost in the Machine, Shoestring Press, Brooklyn, NY
Summer in the City, NYAA, New York, NY
Portraiture, NYAA, New York, NY
Growing Flowers EP Release Concert and Exhibition, Gemini & Scorpio Loft, Brooklyn, NY
Arte Joven (Young Art), Colombian Consulate in New York, New York, NY
2017
Art Noir, NYAA, New York, NY
Women's Work: a Festival of Art & Wellness, MINKA, Brooklyn, NY
Single Fare 4, AANYAA, Highline Stages, New York, NY
Studio for Color Etching di Swietlan N. Kraczyna, Via di Borgo 12, Barga (Lucca), Italy
2016
Solo Senior Student Exhibition: The Music of the Spheres, Heimbold Visual Arts Center, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY
2015
Studio for Color Etching di Swietlan N. Kraczyna, Via di Borgo 12, Barga (Lucca), Italy
SLC in Florence Student Showcase, Convitto Della Calza, Florence, Italy
2013
Solo Student Exhibition: La raíz del conflicto: memoria y olvido en Latinoamérica (The Root of Conflict: Memory and Oblivion in Latin America), Bates Student Center, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY
Collaborations
2023
Artefactos – development of artistic workshop on immigration with psychologist and musician Mariana Londoño and with musician and actor Manuel Viveros, Mayday Space, Queens, NY
2020
Mess – acting in music video by musician Lily Desmond, released in 2022
2018
Voices of Dance – concept and dance-painted mural blueprint with choreographer Hana Kozuka, The TANK, New York, NY
2017
Roses – painting featured in the short film directed by Alexis Mendez
And So if Again I Would Play the Boré...– management and acting in the performance piece by artist Oliver Bulas, Y Gallery, New York, NY
Publications
Live Interviews, Presentations and Panels:
2022
Paradice Palase, Virtual Studio Visit on IG Live @ParadicePalase with Kat Ryals, 28 September
2021
Lehman College, Advanced Painting Class: Visiting Artist, 18 November
The Artist Confluence, “Creating Spaces”, podcast episode with Diego García, interviewed by Liza Sokolovskaya, https://www.theartistconfluence.com, 28 September
H&R Studio, “Ladies Who Line” online panel with Gabriela Handal, Aurore Lephilipponnat, and Cheri Wheat, facilitated by Lauren Redding, 20 January
2020
Festival of Lights and Sound, interview by Conor Sullivan, 5 December
Press – Articles and Interviews:
2024
Kasia Skorynkiewicz, Art and Design News, “Adjunct Helena La Rota Lopez Awarded Thomas Wood Grant & Residency at Il Bisonte Printmaking Foundation”, 9 October, https://www.montclair.edu/art-and-design/2024/10/09/adjunct-helena-la-rota-lopez-awarded-thomas-wood-grant-residency-at-il-bisonte-printmaking-foundation/
2022
Manu Sharma, STIR world Magazine, “Visceral Thresholds: Exploring the abstract inner world of Helena La Rota López”, 24 March, https://www.stirworld.com/see-features-visceral-thresholds-exploring-the-abstract-inner-world-of-helena-la-rota-lopez
Grayson Cassels, Paradice Palase, “Helena La Rota López”, 13 February, https://www.paradicepalase.com/features/2021/7/21/member-feature-interview-helenalarotalopez
Press – Mentions and Photographs:
2019 Claudia Kalb, photography by Paolo Woods and Gabriele Galimberti, National Geographic, “Why Leonardo da Vinci’s Brilliance Endures, 500 Years After his Death”, May issue
2018 Williams, Austin R., Artists’ Magazine, “School of Rock”, October, pp. 14-15
2017 Luca Galeotti, Il Giornale di Barga, “Studio for color etching, incisioni in mostra in via di Borgo”, Barga, July, www.giornaledibarga.it/2017/07/studio-for-color-etching-incisioni-in-mostra-in-via-di-borgo-251212/
2015 Keane, Barganews, “Open Day at the Swietlan Kraczyna Workshop”, Barga, July, www.barganews.com/2015/07/30/open-day-at-the-swietlan-kraczyna-workshop/
Published Illustrations:
Print:
2024 (Upcoming) Paul Libbos Brown, Azahar, watercolor and ink on paper, 8 illustrations, 24 x 13 in
2018 Andrés González Galante, “No hables con desconocidos” (“Don’t Talk to Strangers”), Casa Barullo 5, No. 5 (January 2018); Negro y de gran pelaje..., graphite on paper, 113⁄4 x 81⁄2 i
2017 Anonymous, “Saborcito a Leña” (“Taste of Firewood”), Casa Barullo 2, No. 2 (January 2017): p. 20; Saborcito a Leña, ink and graphite on paper, 113⁄4 x 81⁄2 inches
2015 Antonio Espinosa, “Where Myrtles Bloom”, Black Ivory Tower, No. 2 (August 2015): p. 14; Silva y Villalba, graphite on paper, 113⁄4 x 81⁄2 inches
Music: Albums and EPs:
2023
Nicolás Canal, Hydroforce. Cover art, watercolor and ink on paper, 11x11inches
Conor Sullivan, Pancakes. Cover art, watercolor and ink on paper, 11 x 11 inches
2021
Classy Dame, Band logo, ink on paper, vectorized, 11 x 11 inches
Nicolas Canal, Mouse: una sinfonía en miniatura (Mouse: a Miniature Symphony). Illustrations for each movement, ink and watercolor on paper, six illustrations, 10 x 10 inches each
2019
Lily Desmond, The Desert. Tunecore, 2019. Cover art, monotype on paper, 30 x 50 inches
2018
Lily Desmond, Growing Flowers. Tunecore, 2018. Cover art, watercolor and ink on paper, 111⁄2 x 111⁄2 inches