In her Pilsen studio, Yvette Mayorga, equipped with a pastel pink pastry bag, meticulously prepares to work on one of her six large canvases.
“I’m interested in pink as skin,” she reflects, acknowledging the central role this color plays in her artistic expression.
The room is awash in shades of pink, starkly contrasting the industrial scenery visible through the window.
At just 33 years old, Mayorga has spent the last decade delving into the significance of pink, particularly as it appeared in 17th- and 18th-century Rococo painting. However, while Rococo in Europe often represented luxury and leisure, Mayorga embarks on a journey to reclaim pink and interlace it with the Latinx and immigrant narratives in America.
Her innovative perspective has resonated widely, leading to exhibitions at prominent venues such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.
Returning to her home city with her newest solo exhibition titled “Pu$h Thru” at Monique Meloche Gallery, Mayorga presents 14 new works, marking her first show in Chicago since 2018.
University of Illinois Chicago art history professor Emmanuel Ortega, who has written extensively about Mayorga’s work, states, “Yvette’s work makes me rethink the world. It asks you to sit down and think critically. But, at the same time, it’s joyful and visually seductive. That balance is rare.”
At Mana Contemporary, where her studio occupies the sixth floor of a former industrial warehouse, Mayorga’s creative space resembles a vibrant playground filled with fake nails, rhinestone charms, and cowboy belt buckles.
Inspired by her childhood, her tables overflow with glitter, collage scraps, ceramic figurines, and pastel party materials.
These materials serve as the foundation for her large, sculptural canvases, which dangle in various stages of completion nearby, inviting viewers into her rich, colorful universe.
Mayorga recalls how her artistic journey began as a child, growing up in a close-knit Mexican American family in Moline, Illinois.
She often engaged in creative activities alongside her siblings—drawing, crafting collages, and writing letters.
One particular pink notebook from Claire’s, alongside a frog-shaped pen, stands out in her memory as pulsating with inspiration.
“All my diaries had collages,” she reminisces, recounting the pages filled with images of popular culture icons such as SpongeBob, Hello Kitty, and Britney Spears.
Her first visit to an art museum came in her senior year of high school when her painting class took a field trip to the Art Institute of Chicago.
“Walking into that grand room with all the statues — it was life-changing,” she admits, a pivotal moment that ultimately guided her toward a career in art.
Mayorga pursued her studies in painting and anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she began integrating candy as a material in her portraits, exploring themes of sweetness and color.
As her artistic style evolved, she switched to plaster for durability before finally embracing acrylics and piping techniques reminiscent of the maximalism in her early sketchbooks.
Mayorga’s latest work, “She’s in the cake/Put out the fire after Nicolas Lancret,” features a birthday picnic scene set against a lush green backdrop.
Children gather around a cake, heads bowed in song, clad in shiny gold party hats.
In a nod to familial customs, Mayorga captures a moment where the birthday child’s face is humorously pushed into the frosting.
However, a closer examination reveals underlying tensions: elongated hands with manicured nails emerge from the edges of the canvas, and the horizon is populated with silhouetted couples and protesting figures.
These scenes transcend mere documentation, offering a textured narrative of first-generation life in the American Midwest.
“My work probes into concepts of American identity and the attributes we associate with growing up here,” Mayorga explains.
The process of creating each painting symbolizes more than merely artistic endeavor; it encapsulates her familial narrative.
For instance, “She’s in the cake/Put out the fire” took over a year and 20 layers of paint to complete, each layer serves as an homage to her hardworking parents—her father laboring at a Tyson meat plant and her mother managing bakery counters at Marshall Field’s.
“I feel it is imperative to document all the hard work my family has undertaken—especially within the Midwest,” she asserts.
Mayorga’s artistic philosophy combines elements described as “Latinx-oco,” a distinctive visual language melding the ornate features of Rococo with themes reflective of Latinx domesticity.
Ortega remarks, “Her work is a double-edged sword. You’re initially attracted by the richness, by the formal excess. But then you start decoding all of these references to labor, immigration, Rococo, feminist history. It’s not just aesthetics. It’s sociological, even political.”
In Mayorga’s paintings, an intricate world emerges where beauty functions both as a shield and a strategy.
“The assumption that pink or beauty is soft is misleading,” she argues.
“While my work is playful, it also navigates themes of grief, first-generation experiences, and the Latinx identity in America. Everything is layered in.”
image source from：chicago
