Exhibition Details

MARC STRAUS is pleased to present Jessica Alazraki: Here We Are. The exhibition, which features recent paintings, is Alazraki’s first one-person exhibition with the gallery.
Family togetherness is the premise of the exhibition. Familism is a cultural value that emphasizes warm, close, supportive family relationships. The concept stipulates that family be prioritized over self. In Here We Are, Alazraki makes a direct reference to how Latinx families in the United States relating to “Familismo” in their daily lives, and she presents a visual argument to support the concept’s importance, evermore central in the Latinx community. Alazraki emphasizes, “we are here amongst you, a growing population. And this is how we live.” Families are shown in the park, at home, around the dinner table, and on a hammock; the simplicity of everyday life and the embracing of daily activities is paramount to the psychological well-being of Latinx families.
From a technical perspective, she pushes boundaries in color application by layering her surfaces. With a palette dominated by primary colors and the intermittent application of subdued hues, she plays with distortion, scale, and perception. For instance, Hammock highlights her mastery in engineering the image, with her use of storytelling through texture and pigment, to imperceptibly reflect the surrounding and the mood of her subjects. Color becomes a powerful element, whether in her subject’s clothing, a garden or playground, the beach, or the home. Crowded Beach depicts a day at the beach, a relaxing time, with a wave of bathers. Their engagement supports the theory that they are not strangers in proximity, but together in an interfamily outing.
The completed works are not indicative of a particular art historical moment. Her preference shifts between genre and period. For inspiration, she looks to Matisse, Klimt, and Alice Neel for their masterly use of color and to Mary Cassatt for her portrayal of families. Indeed, while the above-mentioned artists are known individually for their use of color, figures, and family relationships, Alazraki addresses these ideas in her work while adding her thoughts on the rapid growth of Latinx communities across the United States.
Jessica Alazraki was born and raised in Mexico City. She lives and works in New York City. She earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from Universidad Anáhuac. She holds a diploma in graphic design from the Parsons School of Design and a certificate in drawing and painting from the New York Academy of Art. In 2018, she received the Award of Excellence from the Huntington Arts Council and an Honorable Mention Award from the Barrett Art Center. In 2019, she participated in the ARTWorks Fellowship at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (JCAL) and was selected for the Creative Capital NYC “El Taller” in collaboration with the Hemispheric Institute. In 2020, Jessica completed the Trestle Art Space Residency Program, was awarded the New Work Grant by the Queens Art Fund, and won the Diane Etienne Founders Award from the Stamford Art Association. In 2021, she received the Emerging Artist Award from the Jackson Painting Prize. Her work is featured in several publications including New American Paintings, No. 152, and the Northeast Issue. She recently completed a residency at the prestigious Fountainhead Residency in Miami Beach. 
Her works are included in renowned public and private collections in the US and Mexico, including the Hort Family Collection, the Rubell Family Collection, the Jorge Pérez Collection, the Lipson Collection, the Hornik Collection, the Whitley Collection, the 5M Collection, the Vascovitz Collection, the Gautreaux Collection, among others. She is currently working on a public commission for The Bronx Animal Shelter, in The Bronx, NY, and the Stanford Children’s Hospital, in Stanford, CA. She is currently exhibiting at Hudson Valley MoCA, in Peekskill, NY.