Born in Peru in 1957, Monica immigrated to Canada in 1976, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science and Master in Landscape Architecture. She also has a Fine Art and an Advanced Painting Certificate from Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Monica’s distinctive style of textural painting, in which she applies thick layers of acrylic paint and medium with palette knives, results in a 3-D effect, suggesting organic energy, flow and movement. At the same time, she uses multiple glazes of colour to produce contrast and harmony, creating lightness, fluidity, and ephemeral atmospheric effects.

Monica is represented by Ukama in Vancouver and Lehangart in Vancouver and Montreal, Gallea Gallery in Montreal. Internationally she is represented by Singulart in France and Hanford and Sons in the UK. Her paintings have been exhibited at numerous galleries in BC’s Lower Mainland, including Federation of Canadian Artists Granville Island; Ferry Building West Vancouver, International Artists and Seymour in North Vancouver. Her work is found in corporate and private collections throughout Canada, the US, Europe, Mexico, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan.

Artist Statement
I am a mixed media artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. My art is rooted in my life on the west coast of British Columbia, but also draws on my travelling experiences. Drawing on my background in science, I create evocative and purposely imperfect paintings inspired by nature’s geometric repetitions, patinas, time-worn layers and the amazing colours of dawn and dusk. The contrasts of the organic and inorganic elements in nature, and the window this provides to dream-like places fascinates me. My paintings reflect the scope of imagery as viewed from the vastness of space or through the lens of a microscope.

I use mixed media for its capacity to reach beyond the visual, to more tactile and tangible processes. I curate combinations of materials and techniques to abstract reality, telling a story to elicit an intimate aesthetic and emotional response. To experience this fully, the viewer must enter the multiple layers, shades and textures of my work, and be seduced into a visual and visceral encounter – a holistic meeting of minds between artist and viewer, inspiring self-discovery, empathy, meditation and mindfulness.

The beauty, force and energy of water and its associated reflective light have always drawn me in as a scientist and as an artist. This connection I have with water and the amazing colours of dawn and dusk is what has inspired my newest collection of work. These pieces are a homage to the natural beauty and emotional energy that all water bodies including oceans, rivers and lakes have.

For painting price enquires, please contact Monica via email mgdesigns@shaw.ca or via Instagram @mgdesignsca