Details:
① Artwork:
the feminine urge to carry my own weight
This painting reflects the artist’s exploration of her individual, familial, and cultural experiences through transition and transformation. This saturated and atmospheric oil painting depicts a moment of rest, care, and cultivation as an antidote to violence and repression. The palette of the artist’s works recalls citrus fruits and ripe plantains, and bright pinks, greens, and yellows seem to overflow the boundaries of the canvas. Aesthetically, the work recalls photographs that have faded in direct sunlight, symbolizing the effect of memory on the images.
Cielo Félix-Hernández draws on memory and aesthetics derived from cultural legacy to reflect her experience as a trans-femme Boricua. Her exuberant palette and detailed, referential compositions draw viewers into a space of care, resilience, and joy.
Specs:
③ Artist:
Working primarily in oil paint, Félix-Hernández depicts figures who author their own narratives using familiar Boricua and Caribbean iconographies.
Cielo Félix-Hernández was born in 1998 in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, and lives in Brooklyn, NY. Félix-Hernández received her BFA in Sculpture + Extended Media from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.
Recent group exhibitions include Puerto Rico Negrx, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Puerto Rico (San Juan, Puerto Rico), “Pictures Girls Make:” Portraitures, curated by Alison M. Gingeras, Blum & Poe, (Los Angeles, CA), Death of Beauty, Sargent’s Daughters (Los Angeles, CA), DOMESTICANX, curated by Susanna Temkin, El Museo del Barrio (New York, NY), Ojos del Perro Azul, Marinaro (New York, NY), Nine Lives, Fortnight Institute (New York, NY), Visions and Nightmares, Simone Subal Gallery, curated by Baseera Khan (New York, NY), Flame Tree, REGULARNORMAL, curated by Bony Ramirez (New York, NY), documento, Embajada (San Juan, Puerto Rico), My Flannel Knickers, Sargent's Daughters (New York, NY), Dynasty, curated by Amy Goldrich, Christopher K. Ho, Omar Lopez-Chahoud, and Sara Reisman, PS122 Gallery (New York, NY). She had her first New York solo exhibition nieta at Sargent’s Daughters in January 2022, which was reviewed by Artnet, Artsy and Platform Art. Félix-Hernández is in the permanent collection at El Museo del Barrio (New York, NY). Sargent’s Daughters also presented a solo booth of new works by Félix-Hernández at NADA Miami 2022 and a solo exhibition in Los Angeles in 2023. She is currently an Artist-in-Residence at Abrons Art Center, New York, NY. She is represented by Sargent’s Daughters.
