“Chicago-based artist Yvette Mayorga creates whimsical paintings and sculptures that reflect on everyday moments of joy, leisure, play, and intimacy. For this exhibition, Mayorga pays homage to her family and their labor in baking, meatpacking, and craft by embracing the ornate aesthetics of eighteenth-century Rococo art and design—a style characterized by fancy ornamentation, asymmetry, and curvy forms. The frosting-like texture seen throughout the galleries is a unique piping process developed by the artist to combine painting, sculpture, and confectionary techniques.
Grounded in her experience as a first-generation Mexican American growing up in the 1990s, and referencing personal memories and family photos, Mayorga’s work reimagines colonial-era art to offer utopian visions of immigration and belonging.
Yvette Mayorga (b. 1991, Silvis, Illinois) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work examines the legacy of colonial art history and issues of feminized labor. She received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and she lives and works in Chicago.” Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas 2022
Bedroom After 15th, 2022, Installation: acrylic piping on Disney TV, purses, shoes, lotion, wooden shelves, lamp, ceramic, book bag, sneakers, Hello Kitty bubble blower, clock, faux books, mirrors, wood, pillows, wall paintings, nightstand, acrylic piping on bike, and acrylic piping on canvas, 9’ x 9’ x 10’
“In this life-sized installation, Mayorga recreates a dreamlike version of her childhood bedroom embedded within a fantastical, fairytale setting. While some elements, such as the bed, are exact copies, other objects like the TV represent consumer items that the artist wanted when she was younger but could not afford. The layers of pink frosting represent hundreds of hours of meticulous hand piping, which the artist did over the past year, both in her Chicago studio and on-site here at the Momentary.” Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas 2022
The Brunette Latinx Self Portrait After François Boucher’s “The Brunette Odalisque,” c.1745, 2022, acrylic nails, acrylic marker, false eyelashes, collage, plastic rings, plastic nail charms, rhinestones, car wrap vinyl, and acrylic piping on wood panel, 120” x 60” x 2”
Resting Scrolling After François Boucher, Madame de Pompadour, 1756, 2022, acrylic nails, Nike shoes, false eyelashes, collage, plastic ring, plastic gummy bears, cherry nail rhinestones, rhinestones, car wrap vinyl, and acrylic piping on canvas, 60” x 60”
The Reenactment with Nike Air Jordans After the Last Supper, 2022, acrylic nails, Nike shoes, false eyelashes, collage, plastic ring, plastic gummy bears, cherry nail rhinestones, rhinestones, car wrap vinyl, and acrylic piping on canvas, 60” x 60”
The Enchanted Party After François Boucher, The Enchanted Home, 2022, acrylic nails, acrylic marker, false eyelashes, collage, plastic rings, plastic nail charms, rhinestones, car wrap vinyl, and acrylic piping on canvas, 120” x 60” x 2”
Resting Gurl 1 A Vase of the Century Series Century Vase c 1876, 2022, acrylic nails, false eyelashes, plastic nail charms, rhinestones, collage, and acrylic piping on wood panel, 60” x 50”
Resting Gurl 2 A Vase of the Century Series Century Vase c 1876, 2022, acrylic nails, false eyelashes, plastic nail charms, rhinestones, collage, and acrylic piping on wood panel, 60” x 50”
A Landscape of American Mourning, 2022, acrylic piping on wood panel, 55” diameter
Licorice 1, diptych, 2022, acrylic nails, plastic nail charms, and acrylic piping on canvas, 36” x 36”
Licorice 2, diptych, 2022, acrylic nails, plastic nail charms, and acrylic piping on canvas, 36” x 36”