Patricia Cazorla

Venezue­lan artist Patri­cia Cazorla cre­ates “diaries” or per­sonal col­lec­tions of por­traits of women who have a sig­nif­i­cance to her, whether because of their bold char­ac­ters or because of their sim­ple beauty.Cazorla depicts the emo­tions, sen­si­bil­i­ties, and per­son­al­i­ties of her sub­jects through vivid col­ors, strong brush strokes, and col­lages of images taken from the media, although her favorite media is oil paint.


Venezue­lan artist Patri­cia Cazorla cre­ates “diaries” or per­sonal col­lec­tions of por­traits of women who have a sig­nif­i­cance to her, whether because of their bold char­ac­ters or because of their sim­ple beauty. Cazorla depicts the emo­tions, sen­si­bil­i­ties, and per­son­al­i­ties of her sub­jects through vivid col­ors, strong brush strokes, and col­lages of images taken from the media, although her favorite media is oil paint. “I am Venezue­lan,” Cazorla says, “but my blood is actu­ally ‘mixed media.’” She has exper­i­mented with video, draw­ing, silk-screening, lith­o­g­ra­phy, and col­lage in order to achieve a clear inter­pre­ta­tion of her feel­ings and life expe­ri­ences. She has been influ­enced by Span­ish artists from the 19th cen­tury such as Joaquin Sorolla, as well as the Amer­i­can painter Romaine Brooks. Con­tem­po­rary artists Eliz­a­beth Pay­ton, Mar­lene Dumas, and Kehinde Wiley have also influ­enced Carloza’s art.

Cazorla moved to New York at the age of 21, and joined the Art Stu­dents League of New York, the School of Visual Arts, and Pratt Insti­tute to fur­ther develop her work and to explore new tech­niques in paint­ing, draw­ing, and dig­i­tal media. Since Cazorla moved to New York, she has par­tic­i­pated in national and inter­na­tional exhi­bi­tions such as El Museo del Barrio’s 4th Bien­nal, the (S) Files (New York), and the Amer­i­cas at Esther Klein Art Gallery (Philadel­phia). She has also been included in exhi­bi­tions at Williams­burg Art & His­tor­i­cal Cen­ter (Brook­lyn), the Long Beach Island Foun­da­tion for the Arts and Sci­ences (New Jer­sey), Wer­ke­tage Gallery (Ger­many), Museo de Bel­las Artes (Venezuela), and the Cork Gallery at the Lin­coln Cen­ter for the Per­form­ing Arts (New York).

Liv­ing in Williams­burg, Brook­lyn since 1999, Cazorla has become part of its mul­ti­cul­tural com­mu­nity, and appre­ci­ates its impor­tance in her art. “It helps you to under­stand other cul­tures through the eyes of an indi­vid­ual,” Cazorla says. “At that moment you are con­nected to the uni­verse. It’s also a way to make peace.” In 2003, she founded Gale­ria Galou, an alter­na­tive art space with the pri­mary pur­pose of sup­port­ing emerg­ing artists locally and inter­na­tion­ally. It was formed with the works of artists inter­ested in fresh, cutting-edge, and exper­i­men­tal approaches to art. It exists for the sake of free­dom of the art form and its con­cept. “…it has nour­ished me in all aspects of my art­work and my per­sonal life,” Cazorla says. “It helps me to develop my own cri­te­ria, turn­ing down the trends.” She is cur­rently the cura­to­r­ial assis­tant at Lehman Col­lege Art Gallery. Patri­cia Cazorla is an intrigu­ing woman in her own right.