Jasmine Zelaya

Jasmine Zelaya is a multi- disciplinary first-generation Honduran-American artist. The daughter of parents who immigrated to the US in the early 1970’s, much of her work references the aesthetics of that period. Zelaya’s work explores themes of identity, assimilation and the brown body through a familial narrative rich with symbology. Zelaya received her BFA in Painting in 2006 from the Kansas City Art Institute. Based in Houston, her work has been featured on television media and in numerous publications, including as a cover artist for New American Paintings. Zelaya’s work was recently included in the 2021 Texas Biennial: A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon.

Statement

My work is informed by my experience as a first generation, LatinX artist. Through portraiture and the language of paint, my work explores themes of identity. At once painterly and glittery, these busy surfaces distract from underlying tensions and the gaze of my subjects.

Floral elements are utilized as graphic representations of not only a familial narrative, but also the contrast of the natural and artificial world. Lush flowers, vines and patterns emerge in order to immerse the subject and capture the viewer’s attention. The subjects are at once disengaged while others display various degrees of intimacy. The women are depicted as both virtuous and erotic vessels, and draws references from Bernini’s “The Ecstasy of St. Teresa.” The distinction of emotions is convoluted. There is at once a sense of rapture blurred with anguish. The duality of these themes, are as much relevant today as they were during the 17th century.

My recent work is in direct response to the things on my mind at present, mainly the injustices of our flawed systems and the oppression and murders of BIPOC. While working with silver fringe on recent video projections, I was reminded of the silver heating blankets used in detention centers. This inexpensive material at first seems celebratory, but in fact has much heavier connotations. It is my hope to honor the lives of those affected and lost, and as the daughter of immigrants to bring awareness to those less visible.

Education

2006 The Kansas City Art Institute, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting

Exhibitions

2022 Solo Exhibition, Ivester Contemporary, Austin, TX (forthcoming)
Solo Exhibition, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX (forthcoming)
Solo Exhibition, Art League Houston, TX (forthcoming)
Between Spaces, Partnership Tower, Houston, TX (Solo)
FEMME, FLXST Contemporary, Chicago, IL

2021 Portraits: Impressions of Our Times, LHUCA, Lubbock, TX
Between Here and There, Paradice Palase, Virtual Exhibition
New Contemporaries, Dodomu Gallery, Virtual Exhibition
Texas Biennial: A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon, curated by Ryan N. Dennis and Evan Garza
Girls Are Gods, Too, curated by Jaelynn Wells, The Curators, Virtual Exhibition
Phases, Dear Artists, Virtual Exhibition
Speak Low, Sleepy Cyborg Gallery, Rice University, Houston, TX (Solo)
Carriers: the Body as a site of Danger and Desire, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, TX

2020 Sugar Water, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX
Ruminations, Houston Community College, Stafford, TX (Solo)
Mask Show 2020, Curated by Essentials Creative, San Antonio Central Library, San Antonio, TX

2019 Be. Long., I Like Your Work Juried Exhibition, Dutoit Gallery, Dayton, OH
Biophilia, curated by MAAKE Magazine, Unpaved Gallery, Yucca Valley, CA
Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Space HL, Houston, TX
Intersectionality of Inquiry, Clamp Light Gallery, San Antonio, TX
Poems, Protest and a Dream, curated by MantecaHTX for Latino Art Now!, MECA, Houston, TX
Wallflowers, Space HL, Houston, TX (Solo)
Corazones, MECA, Houston, TX

2018 Neither Here Nor There, Box13 Window Box Installation, Houston, TX
Mujeres del Sur, The Union Gallery, Houston, TX
The Big Show!, curated by Evelyn C. Hankins, PhD, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX

2017 The Big Show!, curated by Toby Kamps, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX

2014 Peep Show: Sneak Peek of P3, The Aquarium Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2013 Grand Opening!, Alonzo Gallery, Houston, TX
Bald Beast, The Aquarium Gallery, New Orleans, LA (solo)

2012 Home: A Juried Exhibition, The Writer’s Place, Kansas City, MO

2006 Lotteria, Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery, Kansas City, MO
The Chicano Experience, Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery, Kansas City, MO
BFA Thesis Exhibition, H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City, MO

2005 The Revolving Door, KCAI Crossroads Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Dia De Los Muertos, Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Garth Brooks and Chris Gaines, Alice Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery, Kansas City, MO
WTF?, Leedy Voulkos Art Center Opie Gallery, Kansas City, MO

2001 Final Show, The Oxbow School, Napa, CA

Public Works & Creative Experience

2022 Window Works, Downtown District Public Art, Houston, TX (forthcoming)
Double Headed Figure, City Centre, Houston, TX

2021 Window Works, Downtown District Public Art, Houston, TX (forthcoming)
Mural commissioned by Live Nation & OMA NY for 713 Music Hall VIP Room at The Post, Houston, TX
Painting commissioned by Google for Google Houston office, Houston, TX

2020 Detroit Red, Public Commission, Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Houston, TX
Our Systems Are Failing Us installation, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX
Purple Coneflower Mural, Project Row Houses Boardroom, Houston, TX
House of Cards, Discovery Green, Houston, TX
Custom painted bicycle, B- Cycle, Houston, TX
Marigold Mural, Pondicherri Bake Lab, Houston, TX
Lawndale Lending Library, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX

2019 Tribute to Naomi Polk Mural, Arts District Houston, Houston, TX
Drewery Place, Caydon USA Private Collection, 2019
Finalist, United Airlines Artworks, Terminal C, at George Bush Intercontinental Airlines in association with Houston Arts Alliance, Houston, TX
Lawndale Lending Library, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
Artist Talk, Poems, Protest and a Dream, MECA, Houston, TX
Artist Talk, Wallflowers, Space HL, Houston, TX

2018 Public Art Mural Commission, Main Street Marquee, Art Blocks Houston, Houston, TX
Panelist, Mujeres Speak, The Union Gallery, Houston, TX
Artist Talk, The Big Slide Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX

2017 Artist Talk, The Big Slide Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX

2013 Don’t Go Back to Sleep, Supporting, Grand Arts, (Stanya Kahn, Director), Kansas City, MO

2011 Whoop Dee Doo’s Underwater Icy Freezing cold Watery Extravaganza!, Prop and Set Fabrication, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO

2010 Whoop Dee Doo In the Cave, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Prop & Set Fabrication, Omaha, NE
Whoop Dee Doo the Walnut Series!, WDD, Prop & Set Fabrication, Kansas City, MO

2009 Whoop Dee Doo, La Esquina, Prop and Set Fabrication, Kansas City, MO

2008 Whoop Dee Doo, Deitch Projects, Prop and Set Fabrication, New York, NY

Residencies

2021 Dear Artists Virtual Artist- In- Residence

2019 Finalist, Artpace San Antonio Artist- In- Residence Program, Artpace, San Antonio, TX

2008 – 2009 Charlotte Street Foundation: Urban Culture Project Studio Residency, Kansas City, MO

Collections

Caydon

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Jasmine Zelaya

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