Bea Ortiz is a Spanish-American artist based in the Catskills of New York. She studied fine art and completed postgraduate studies in art education in her native Spain before moving to New York City in 1998. There, she built an international career as a decorative painter and muralist while steadily developing her own painting and drawing practice. She also collaborated on multidisciplinary performances that wove together live painting, dance, and music.
In 2018, following a life-changing illness, Bea relocated to the Catskill Mountains and returned to full-time artmaking. She credits her creative practice with helping to heal her and is committed to creating work that contributes to collective transformation, exploring the interconnectedness of all beings.
Her work has been exhibited in venues across the United States and Spain, including Fundación Canal de Isabel II (Madrid), TAC International Festival of Arts and Theater (Valladolid), BRIC (Brooklyn), 1053 Gallery (Fleischmanns, NY), Green Kill Gallery (Kingston, NY), and CAS Art Center (Livingston Manor, NY). She also represented 1053 Gallery at SCOPE Miami.
Bea currently maintains a studio and gallery in Margaretville, NY. Her ongoing community arts initiative, Make Your Own Art, invites people of all ages to explore creative expression through painting, drawing, and other mediums.
Statement
I am an abstract painter and visual artist working with acrylic, oils, and mixed media on paper, wood panels, and canvas. My practice extends into immersive installations that integrate my paintings and drawings, transforming exhibition spaces into interactive environments. In some installations, I invite visitors to engage in the creative process by painting directly on designated surfaces, fostering a dynamic exchange between artist, artwork, and audience. I also collaborate with other visual artists, musicians and dancers, expanding the experience through image, sound and movement.
Inspired by nature, my artistic approach is meditative. My abstract paintings and drawings explore themes of universality, interconnectedness, and the interplay of opposites. In my fractal-like works, I use color, shape, placement, size, and brushstroke to immerse viewers in tensions between separation and integration, relationship and opposition. Often working in black and white, I create intricate energetic flows with fine brushes, arranging individual images into large grid structures that amplify connectivity and interrelation. Each piece, a voice in conversation, highlights both harmony and individuality.
Through improvisational image-making, I seek to reveal underlying patterns and the spirituality of existence.