All of the places Lola Montejo has lived has influenced her aesthetic in ways that are as layered as her work itself. She was born in Portsmoth, England but since her family is originally from Spain, they returned to Madrid when she was very young. From there the family traveled until finally immigrating to the United States when she was a teenager. Arriving to the US the family lived in New York where Lola first experienced American abstraction. The New York School artists’ and their unrestrained freedom of expression have been a lifelong influence in Lola’s work.
Each of these diverse places and people informs and inspires Lola’s work and serves as a foundation for Lola’s formal education; earning her BFA from the Metropolitan University of Denver where she studied on a full academic scholarship. Soon after, Lola did a graduate program at the University of Colorado Denver in Pedagogy and from there she continued her education at Azusa Pacific University in California where she earned her MFA in Studio Arts.
Lola currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado and is an adjunct professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver where she teaches, Painting, Drawing and Art History. Her work is represented by William Havu Gallery in Denver.
Statement
Evaluating, selecting, and editing is the core of creating a language. The artist, like the writer, can change and reformulate the rules of the game at any time. My practice examines the possibilities of the language of abstraction through drawings, collages, printmaking, and paintings.
With a variety of methods and techniques, I build and deconstruct the surface using strategies of fragmentation, layering, interweaving, elimination, and organization. My actions are manifested and at the same time are measured, allowing the paint to be expressionistic in some areas and controlled in others. It is an organic system of discovery, a relationship between strategy and chance. It is about knowing when to embrace expectations, rules, desire, control, and it is equally as important as knowing when to let them go.
In the end my efforts are a field of action and research, a language that embodies an intuitive path to self-expression. In this sense, they are just as representational as they are abstract, reflecting my inner world and the world around me.
Contact William Havu Gallery for purchases in Denver.
Contact Moberg Gallery for purchases in Iowa.
Cintact Sue Oehme for purchases of Monotypes.
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