The Figurative Painting Portfolio of Arquimedes Mejia
Arquimedes Mejia is originally from the Dominican Republic and now lives and works in New York. The artist’s practice is highly experimental, with a backbone of figurative painting that serves as foundation for his forays into different media and styles of mark-making.
Browsing through Arquimedes’ online portfolio, I’m fascinated by his Arlequines – in these works, female figures in Harlequin-patterned outfits that call to mind circuses and jesters enact postures that call to mind a variety of classical paintings and art moments. Looking through these images, I see possible references to such works as Manet’s Olympia, or Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.
It’s interesting to see the way that Arquimedes shifts between a bombastic abstracted style, and one that’s a bit more subdued and detail-oriented. I always like to see work by an artist that knows the “rules” of realistic figure painting but chooses to bend them to obtain a different aesthetic.
