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ElmiVenturaMata Marching Ahead Off Beat
September 1st - October 15th, 2017

PicturePlaneando/Planning
ElmiVentura​Mata - 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 puzzl
ing 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.  

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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.


For pricing and availability please send us an email.
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