ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is an ongoing experimentation with the tactile qualities of multiple materials and an exploration of different processes. I create abstract ceramic sculpture and mixed media images. My ceramic sculpture exists in the realm of the senses and it evokes physical, visceral responses. My references are organic forms found in magnified scientific imagery of the body, botanical images and oceanic life. These sculptures evoke the viewer’s desire to touch the work and to explore their meaning in a primal, tactile manner. My mixed media images occupy psychological and spiritual realms. I reference the body, the spiritual aspects of humanity, reflecting on history and the human condition.
“The Realm of Femininity” is a fragmented image based on a charcoal drawing transfer that has been altered by a variety of techniques. The work is inspired by the complex experience of being female in a world that has certain expectations and limitations of women. This female face offers both softness and an alert intensity formatted into a grid structure. As women we exist in motion, shifting constantly between our interior experiences and the exterior presentation of ourselves.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mirentxu Ganzarain is an interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago,IL.
She received her MFA in Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute in 1986 and her BFA from the University of Kansas in 1984. Originally from Chile her work reflects the body, nature, colonization, mythology and memory. Mirentxu has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work is in the permanent collection of Illinois Artists at McCormick Place in Chicago and several private collections. Her most recent one person exhibit was at the University of Chicago’s Corvus Gallery in June of 2022. She has participated in multiple group shows, most notably at the Cultural Center of Chicago in 1996 and the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City in 1988. She has received a Residency at Lakeside, Michigan in 2025, Santa Maria a Rignana, Italy in 2016 and a Sabbatical Grant from the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in 2019.
© Mirentxu Ganzarain