PAULINA
PADILLA

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work navigates the instincts of the body in its different manifestations. Experiencing our body through a screen, can magnify the distraction and entrainement lens through which we encounter the world. The silent qualities of painting, I believe can draw us closer to ourselves and the introspective silences we long for.

The landscapes of fragmented women in my paintings explore the concept of "Shelter" as a physical construction, a digital space, an emotional or imaginary place inside the human mind. These shelters exist as a response to the enervating and over-saturated world that we inherited. The women's bodies, elongated, flexible, moldeable and creaking are celebrated in their slightly deformed state. Their heightened sensorial intake is represented through synthetic colors in order to imitate the accelerated and over-stimulied digital present. 

Based on my personal experiences, I understand vulnerability and adversity as terms that are defined according to the skin we inhabit. 

The gestural quality of my work aludes to the sense of touch. When expressions of the self disengage the body, there is tension generated, similarly to when we explore the world through technology only. Biological life seems to be automatic, but our beliefs, acts and words are not. I am interested in social constructions as amorphous, hybrid and ever-changing structures that mirror the systems embedded in nature.

ABOUT ME

Multidisciplinary artist based in Mexico-Canada, I went to Emily Carr U and OCAD University.

I am interested in institutional and independent pedagogy. I have given workshops in public elementary schools in Vancouver, in the Contemporary Art Museum Querétaro-Mexico, where I worked in the education department, as well as in my private studio. 

I have given conferences about the liminal, memorization and adversity. I recently had my first solo show in San Miguel de Allende and I have collaborated with the Royal Society of Canada, The Canadian Women’s Foundation, Feminist Art Fest Toronto, and independent curators in Mexico City and England.

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Artista multidisciplinar basada en México-Canadá. Estudié en Emily Carr University y en OCADU la licenciatura de Artes Visuales. 

Estoy interesada en la pedagogía particular e institucional. He impartido talleres en escuelas públicas de Vancouver y en el Museo de Arte contemporáneo de Querétaro donde trabajaba en el departamento de educación, al igual que en mi estudio. 

Recientemente colaboré con el colectivo Feminist Art Collective basado en la ciudad de Toronto y con el Canadian Women Association para una exposición colectiva conmemorativa del día de la mujer en 2020. 

Desde que estoy aquí en México hace tres meses, fui ponente en el Festival Latinoamericano de Artes Visuales que organiza el IFAD en Ciudad de México con una conferencia titulada: "El Poder de la Memorización Contra la Adversidad". Actualmente estoy exhibiendo con un grupo de artistas ubicados en Toronto en una maqueta digital que diseñamos y estamos compartiendo a través de publicaciones canadienses similares a NOW Magazine.

**VISIT: patoGEN 3D Gallery Space. Available through the Royal Society of Canada's portal.