The quality and diversity of the work of Yolanda González—a painter, illustrator, printmaker and ceramic sculptor—makes a solo installation of her work long overdue. This current exhibition, with nearly a 100 pieces from the career of the 59-year-old LA–based Chicana artist, does not disappoint. Embracing figurative and abstract styles, she often bases her portraits on herself, with clear inspiration from German Expressionism and Chicano art. 

Following studies in studio art at Pasadena’s Art Center College, which she attended on scholarship, and a fellowship residency in Japan in 1994, González started a series of mostly monochromatic prints and paintings that depict dark bodies and bold gestural strokes. With titles such as Reaching for Sanity, Crossroads and Spiral, these works feature swirling shapes, surrounding staring eyes and faces that peer out at the world. Some of the pieces feature bright colors, like Metamorphosis in Red, which conveys passion with its shapes, reminiscent of hearts, and in the more somber Blue Conga, with its sideways face and skewed breasts. Continuing this series of two dozen works for three years, González describes it as an effort “to put a face on the monsters in our psyches, and to see the beauty in them.” 

In 2020, González began her “Metamorphosis II” series in honor of her mother who had recently passed away. These darker pieces have such titles as With Eyes Closed…Nine Spheres and Through the Veil…Six Spheres. More figurative than work from her earlier ”Metamorphosis” series, they contain detailed faces and female bodies, often conveying soulfulness and even despair with their harmonious arrangements.

Yolanda Gonzalez, Sueno, En la Espaldas de Nuestros Antepasados, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and the Museum of Latin American Art.

The artist’s acrylic-on-canvas portraits in the second gallery include Dream of the Artist (2013), which depicts three stylishly clothed and made-up women, with one posing for a portrait, and a second woman facing her while working at an easel. Both women, with dignified and sincere expressions, have almost identical facial features. Self Portrait with Scaramouch (1999) shows González attending a party in Italy, while elegantly attired in a black cape and a mask with the long fake nose typically worn by doctors and aristocrats during the Bubonic Plague. This painting, among many other vibrant works in the second gallery, is the artist’s most humorous piece in the show.

With features similar to those in her portraits, González’ ceramic sculptures in both galleries are finely wrought busts of women. Several watercolor and pencil works, including Portrait of Emily on Green (2022) and Dreams about you (2020), are portrayals of nudes who brazenly reveal their breasts to the viewers. The few watercolors of men in the exhibition are far less salacious and more modest.

González’ three acrylic still lifes, The Sweet Love of Red, Still Life in Blue and Still Life Pink Tulips, burst with profusions of colorful flowers in full bloom.

Emphasizing González’ expansive art practice, this exhibition showcases pieces that manifest her grief, humor and love of elegance.