Laura Perez-Garcia – Portrait of a French-Cuban Artist Living in New York

I recommend starting with Laura Perez-Garcia’s 2024 series, especially the works set along the avenue corners of New York, to see how a French-Cuban memory translates into direct, human portraits that feel immediate and true.

Her visual language blends bold color blocks with layered textures, built through hands-on tools and mixed-media methods. The development has benefited from a grant and self-driven research, with its designs balancing memory and present energy; the supported collaborations with galleries and communities keep the practice tethered to real spaces. She nods to dion’s rhythm and to tschäpe’s austere lines as anchor points for new experiments.

Her projects create a tribune for discussion, transforming studio experiments into public displays that travel from pop-up venues to established galleries. somebody curious can compare competing narratives across portraits that tighten the viewer’s connection with the sitter and push the observer to notice small notes of color close to the subject.

Internationally, collectors and institutions track her growth, with limited editions ranging from 20 to 50 prints and several mixed-media pieces. Close conversations with gallery partners keep projects practical and visible, and the ongoing development ensures new shows travel between Paris and New York, expanding the scope of her designs. merci

Profile Angles and NYC Context

Attend the January gallery night to see how Laura Perez-Garcia blends French-Cuban memory with New York street energy.

The angle set is characterized by a dialogue between intimate moments and city noise, mapping notables’ reactions and revealing how memory translates into form.

Her use of photography merges poetic rhythm with precise framing; even the night scenes feel lyrical, inviting viewers to pause and listen to the space between frames.

NYC context matters: she engages notables in galleries, studios, and pop-up spaces, including collaborations with leslie and carlos; the relationships she nurtures with gallerists and curators shape how work moves from studio to audience. quelques conversations with venue managers help schedule shows that align with January openings and eastern light cues.

Using knowledge of place, she pinpoints light and texture, combining street photography with controlled studio practices to suggest memory as a living thread across the city blocks.

In reviews, her work appears in juried shows and is included in group exhibitions, where a writer described the work as precise and lyrical, underscoring the balance of narrative and form.

Background: French-Cuban Identity, Education, and Migration to New York

Map her mixed identity by reviewing family archives, then connect that foundation to her education and the move to New York.

Her French-Cuban identity fuses Parisian cadence with Havana warmth, shaping the objects she studies and the scenes she photographs in outdoor settings, while she engages with argentine writers in diaspora.

Her education bridged literature and visual culture. At rollins, she connected with writer miriam dimmitt and with mentor mernet, stoking a concept that memory travels across languages.

Earlier experiments moved from canvas to mixed-media installations, signaling a shift toward layered forms and tactile surfaces.

Her move to New York placed her in vibrant artist circles and outdoor studios where cross-cultural voices gathered. She photographed street life, collected objects, and tested how text can anchor image.

Her practice leans on archives and literature, using the concept of memory as material. Included works weave oral histories, field notes, and visual records into a unique narrative that invites further inquiry.

Professionally, she blends painting and writing, curatorial research, and community projects. It depends on partnerships with libraries, galleries, and education programs; these ranging collaborations illustrate how practice adapts to context.

She serves as a member of a growing network of curators, writers, and artists, and her work continuously engages with archives and public programming to extend its reach.

Faites-nous

Creative Practice: Primary Media, Techniques, and Work Process

Begin with a current charcoal sketch of a portrait and convert it into a project that traces drawn lines and tonal shifts across a scene in the residence.

Choose charcoal as your primary media for a focused set of studies, then layer with graphite for midtones and ink for contour. This approach showed a musical rhythm in the studio and encourages precision, while varying pressure and applying cross-hatching builds volume and texture.

The project names influences such as hoffman and thomas, along with macdonald and douglas, to guide choices around mood, line, and rhythm. A woman drawn from life becomes a vehicle to explore identity; maría and victoria provide narrative touchpoints, and pouvoir marks the degree of control you retain over mark-making. The process began with original sketches and notes, and the name of the project evolved from those early tests.

Use havana and vienna as mental palettes for light and atmosphere, grounding color decisions in reference books. Only through careful observation can you translate memory into a drawn surface, so keep a small notebook handy and test different supports–from toned paper to smooth boards–to see how each surface captures line and tone. A special moment arises when a line reads as intended.

Maintain a constant routine: on thursday mornings review the latest pages, label pages, and plan the next set of sheets. Collect and compare notes from books, and let the sequence of studies sharpen your focus. This discipline helps the current practice stay clear and connected to the residency atmosphere while you name and organize sections of the work for future exhibitions.

Influences and Themes: Identity, Migration, and Urban Inspiration

Begin with a concrete recommendation: map three pivotal years that shaped yourself, then translate those moments into a body of work that traces migration through the city’s textures.

Identity for Laura Perez-Garcia blends French-Cuban roots with a New York sensibility. The city becomes a layered archive: the subway’s rumble, museum halls, gallery doors, and streets that carry memories from africa to Harlem.

Migration informs the craft: the practice shifts with each move, from studios to residencies, through programs, and the gallerist’s feedback helps shape recall–the moments audiences carry after a show.

Influences span living voices and archives: davidovich, mable, brugueras, fétiches, and narsiso, with yiyo, roman, and pedro joining the dialogue. africa and colonial memory surface in textures, motifs, and interests that appear across her work.

Based in New York, she tests ideas across formats: paintings, photographs, and mixed media that invite viewers to touch memory. Cams capture urban rhythms, and those images are shown in museums and project spaces, blending documentary memory with fantasy.

Interests tie materials to people and places: ritual forms meet the grit of street corners, and figures like roman, pedro, yiyo, narsiso surface as memory anchors as africa and the city intertwine.

Where to See Her Work: Notable Exhibitions and Public Collections

Start here: check Laura Perez-Garcia’s official site for the latest schedule; there you will find the current exhibitions and the venues where her works are on view.

In New York and beyond, her presence often appears in experimental spaces newly organized to foreground cross-cultural painters. Newly announced shows cluster around diaspora histories, presenting her forms and the segments of her practice in varied formats; viewers will gain a clear sense of her range. Critics like bruce and hickey have noted the edge of experimentation in these displays.

Public collections can be located through museum databases and university gallery catalogs; if a piece is in a major collection, the entry will show the number of works, year of accession, and donor.

Organizations and programs tied to exhibitions provide another route to see her work. Look for pledges to broaden access, artist talks, and internships that accompany shows; these events deepen the content and context. The imagery often references african histories and china, offering fresh angles for viewers to share.

To plan your visits, subscribe to gallery newsletters, follow curators’ updates, and monitor arts press for reviews. Critics sometimes name the sodi concept as a shorthand for her memory-driven approach, a thread you’ll notice across pieces. The shows invite shareable content and dialogue among viewers; whether you’re a student, girls visiting for the first time, or a longtime admirer, you’ll find newly added works and may discover internships or other opportunities to support the work.

Favorite NYC Bars: 2-3 Venues that Spark Creativity

Go to The Back Room (102 Norfolk St, New York, NY 10002) for an intimate start to a creative night, where performances peek from the piano and aged posters set a visual story in motion.

• The Back Room – Lower East Side, a true speakeasy vibe with discreet doors and a focus on craft cocktails. The space bristles with objets and 19th‑century accents, including prints by hildebrandt that companion a quiet conversation. mary, a local painter, describes how the dim corners nudge a conception for a new series and how a quick post on a note pad can become a seed for a larger project. Tips: arrive early, order a classic like a Sazerac, and sit near the piano to watch conversations between veterans and newcomers; bring a small notebook to capture a fleeting moment that becomes a premier idea the next day.

• PDT (Please Don’t Tell) – East Village, hidden behind a phone booth entry at 113 St Marks Pl. This is where a simple premise–a conversation, a drink, a shared laugh–can spark a rapid story arc. The bartender sequences drinks with a storyteller’s rhythm, and guests often trade examples of recent work or ideas for new collaborations. post a quick note about what you’re chasing, and you’ll likely discover a collaborator in the same room. The intimate setting makes it easy to build relationships and test concepts in real time.

• Clover Club – Cobble Hill, Brooklyn (210 Smith St). A premier, high‑energy space with an international crowd and a dining‑bar rhythm that invites long conversations. The room brings together membres from arts, design, and gastronomy, so you can observe relationships in motion as conversations cross disciplines. chase opportunities for short, informal presentations after 9 pm, when the crowd loosens up and you hear a wide range of voices–from female writers to muralists. ljubljana‑tinged stories and cest‑framed jokes float between rounds, while the cocktails bring a tactile pleasure that fuels a new line of inquiry for your next project.

Overall, these venues function as micro‑studios: they offer performances of mood, objects to study, and chances to meet fellow creatives. If you carry a small notebook, you’ll capture a rapid conception, a hint of a relationship forming, and a few concrete tips you can translate into a new body of work. Brought together by shared interests and casual conversations, the scene becomes a living story you can revisit any night.