Creating through the guidance of the heart
Originally from Temascalcingo, Estado de Mexico, Mexico, Erika Rosales is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist based in Madison, Wisconsin. Her work is inspired by the exploration of reconnection, liberation, spirituality and coming back to self.
As a child in Mexico, Erika engaged with art through drawing. However as a teenager living in the U.S., she felt lost, and distanced herself from art. As her spirit craved both self-expression and reconnection to culture, she returned to art through stage performance. Mexican Folkloric dance allowed her to surrender to the process of self-exploration, which led her to painting and drawing again. The challenges of living as an undocumented immigrant in the U.S. with DACA, and the complexity of the earthly experience have allowed her to search for healing, connection, self-awareness, and beauty.
Erika’s visual art includes abstract paintings through different mediums such as alcohol ink on yupo paper and mixed media on canvas. Her work is part of private and public collections. Erika has also collaborated on local mural projects with acrylic and spray paint that center social justice movements and culture.
Artist’s Statement
I express my love for existence as a multidisciplinary artist. My visual and performing art work is a juxtaposition of reconnection, liberation, coming back to self, and the exploration of other realms. As a Mexican-immigrant artist, my physical limitations are a continuous reality, therefore in my work, I allow myself to explore different non-physical spaces. In the process, I extend an invitation to the viewer to embark on a spiritual journey of the human experience with self, the world, and the universe. I also attempt to demonstrate the multidimensionality not always perceptible in ourselves and others and consequently, I make the unseen seen.
By interacting with elements in both large and small spaces, I navigate this exploration by creating various surfaces with materials such as acrylic, alcohol ink, spray paint, and textured materials. I represent visuals from the physical to non-physical through abstraction on my alcohol ink and acrylic paintings. In my acrylic paintings, the use of unconventional materials to create texture enhances emotional aspects. Employing gilding (metal leafs) and metallic paints allows me to provide a sense of mysticism and connection to the divine. On the other hand, my mural collaborations have been motivated by a desire to celebrate beautiful aspects of our shared humanity.
As humans, we have created systems of oppression, division, and paradigms that disconnect us from ourselves and the sacred. Considering my lived experience, I am inspired by the idea of transcending our limited human condition. In a world often marked by disconnection and confusion, my goal is to create a connection to the bigger meaning of life and existence and our role in it.
Erika’s CV