ElmiVenturaMata Marching Ahead Off Beat
September 1st - October 15th, 2017
September 1st - October 15th, 2017
Planeando/Planning
ElmiVenturaMata - Marching Ahead Off Beat
Closing Reception Party - Saturday, October 14th at 5:00pm.
September 1st - October 15th, 2017
“Since arriving in the United States, I have felt as if I had been thrown into a meat grinder.
During this puzzling journey, in pursuit of the ‘American Dream,’ one either prevails as a new
person or becomes hamburger meat. Resiliency is necessary for survival - and when participating in the grand tradition of painting."
Brown is the color of warm dirt beneath the feet of children running around the mountaintop
village, where people rise earlier than the sun. And, when the sun recedes behind the highest
peaks, the brown people blend back into their mud-built homes. This is the vision in the mind of Elmi L. Ventura Mata.
His paintings are viscerally engaged with the nuanced representation of Latin-American people in and outside his adopted country. Figurative painting allows Ventura Mata to weave
narratives that spell out the concerns and ideas of his brown brothers and sisters. A limited
palette allows viewers to reconfigure their disposition to really meet the people on the canvas.
Closing Reception Party - Saturday, October 14th at 5:00pm.
September 1st - October 15th, 2017
“Since arriving in the United States, I have felt as if I had been thrown into a meat grinder.
During this puzzling journey, in pursuit of the ‘American Dream,’ one either prevails as a new
person or becomes hamburger meat. Resiliency is necessary for survival - and when participating in the grand tradition of painting."
Brown is the color of warm dirt beneath the feet of children running around the mountaintop
village, where people rise earlier than the sun. And, when the sun recedes behind the highest
peaks, the brown people blend back into their mud-built homes. This is the vision in the mind of Elmi L. Ventura Mata.
His paintings are viscerally engaged with the nuanced representation of Latin-American people in and outside his adopted country. Figurative painting allows Ventura Mata to weave
narratives that spell out the concerns and ideas of his brown brothers and sisters. A limited
palette allows viewers to reconfigure their disposition to really meet the people on the canvas.
About the Artist:
Elmi L. Ventura Mata is a Salvadoran born painter, who expresses his experience as an immigrant in the U.S. through the narrative he portrays through form and color. Growing up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Mr. Ventura Mata saw art as a means of escaping life in the inner city. He encountered his love for painting during his one month summer residencies between 2008-10 at Appel Farm Arts and Music Center in Elmer, New Jersey. His passion for painting, led him to participate in the 2011 pre-college program at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. During his senior year in high school, he was a participant in the inaugural Emerging Artist Creativity Hub group at the College of New Jersey.
Upon graduating from high school in 2012 with a NJ Governor’s Award in Multidisciplinary Art, Mr. Ventura Mata enrolled in the Cleveland Institute of Art. Subsequently, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Painting and Drawing in 2016, with the Grand Award for Excellence in Visual Arts from the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio. Mr. Ventura Mata currently lives and works in Philadelphia as an MFA fellow at the Tyler School of Art of Temple University.
You can learn more about Elmi and his work via his website.
Elmi L. Ventura Mata is a Salvadoran born painter, who expresses his experience as an immigrant in the U.S. through the narrative he portrays through form and color. Growing up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Mr. Ventura Mata saw art as a means of escaping life in the inner city. He encountered his love for painting during his one month summer residencies between 2008-10 at Appel Farm Arts and Music Center in Elmer, New Jersey. His passion for painting, led him to participate in the 2011 pre-college program at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. During his senior year in high school, he was a participant in the inaugural Emerging Artist Creativity Hub group at the College of New Jersey.
Upon graduating from high school in 2012 with a NJ Governor’s Award in Multidisciplinary Art, Mr. Ventura Mata enrolled in the Cleveland Institute of Art. Subsequently, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Painting and Drawing in 2016, with the Grand Award for Excellence in Visual Arts from the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio. Mr. Ventura Mata currently lives and works in Philadelphia as an MFA fellow at the Tyler School of Art of Temple University.
You can learn more about Elmi and his work via his website.
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