Lina Puerta

Lina Puerta
Born	1969 (age 55–56)
Alma mater	Wells College Queens College, City University of New York
Known for	Mixed media
Website	linapuerta.net

Lina Puerta (born 1969) is a Colombian-American mixed media artist based in New York City. She was born in New Jersey and grew up in Colombia. ^[1]

Education

Lina Puerta studied at Institute Lorenzode Medici in Florence, Italy, and earned her BA from Wells College with Honors in Studio Art in 1992. ^{[2] [3]} Then she earned her master's degree in Art Education from Queens College in 1998. ^{[2] [4]}

Art

Puerta's work covers several mediums, all of which are heavily influenced by materials and their metaphorical significance to the work. She combines jewelry, fabric, paint, buttons, resin, wire, wood, etc. in her sculpture work, exploring the tension between nature and the human-made. ^{[1] [5]} Both her sculpture work and her work on paper focus on themes of nature, man made structures, fragility, and the environment in relation to humanity. ^[6]

Puerta's BotanicoSeries (2011–2014) is installation based and incorporates polyurethane resin, wood, foam, paint, fiberfill, fabric, chains, rhinestones, beads, trims, and artificial plants and moss to create natural spaces emerging from a human-made object. ^[7] These works explore the relationship between nature and control, as these organic, plant-based works burst through their designated locations. ^[7]

The Farmworker Series (2017) is one of Puerta's more recent projects. She uses paper making techniques to create vibrant tapestries which bring attention to farm workers on crops in the American south. ^[8] Puerta weaves different materials in the tapestries, including lace, trims, sequined fabrics, velvet, handmade woven textile, pom-poms, fake fur, and gouache. Each piece also includes [renderings] of the flowers and leaves from the crops represented in each image, as well as, birds and insects as pollinators to these crops. ^[9]

Selected exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• Lina Puerta:Migration, Nature, and the Feminine, Hunter East Harlem, New York, NY, 2022 ^{[1] [10] [11] [12] [13]}
• Lina Puerta: Tapestries, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY, 2018 ^{[14] [15]}
• Lina Puerta: Manigua, from the Botánico Series, a site-specific installation for The Miller Theatre at Columbia University in collaboration with The UPTOWN Triennale of the Wallach Art Gallery, New York, NY, 2017–2018 ^{[16] [17]}
• Within/Without, Geary Contemporary, New York, NY, 2017 ^{[18] [19]}
• Traces, Geary Contemporary, New York, NY, 2015 ^{[6] [20] [21] [22]}
• La Muerte de un Arbol (The Death of a Tree), Residency Exhibition, Materials for the Arts, New York, NY, 2014 ^{[23] [24]}
• Lina Puerta: Natura, The Sage Colleges: Opalka Gallery, Albany, NY, 2009 ^[25]

Selected group exhibitions

• Around the Table: Stories of the Foods We Love. New York Botanical Garden. New York, NY, 2022 ^{[26] [27]}
• Building Radical Soil. The Latinx Project, New York University, New York, NY, 2022 ^{[28] [29]}
• Radical Love, Ford Foundation Gallery, New York, NY, 2019 ^{[30] [31] [32] [33]}
• HyperAccumulators, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY, 2019 ^[34]
• Sedimentations: Assemblage as Social Repair, The 8th Floor, New York, NY, 2018 ^[35]
• Living/Breathing, Morgan Lehman 2, New York, NY, 2018 ^[36]
• Art, Artists & You, Children's Museum of Manhattan, New York, NY, 2018 ^[37]
• Labor&Materials, 21c Museum Hotels, Bentonville, AR, 2018 ^[38]
• Harlem Perspectives, Faction Art Projects, New York, NY, 2018 ^{[39] [40] [41]}
• Site & Survey: The Architecture of Landscape, Richmond Center for Visual Arts at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, 2018 ^[42]
• Dark and Stormy Night: The Gothic in Contemporary Art, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY, 2018 ^[43]
• Nature is Back!, H Gallery, Paris, France, 2017 ^[44]
• American Histories, PI Artworks, London, UK, 2016–2017 ^[45]
• The 20th Anniversary Show, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY, 2016 ^[46]
• RE·, The Fed Galleries at KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI, 2016 ^{[47] [48]}
• Field Studies, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Bushwick, NY, 2016 ^[49]
• The (Not) So Secret Life of Plants, Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 2015 ^[50]
• Back to Eden: Contemporary Artists Wander the Garden, Museum of Biblical Art, New York, NY, 2014 ^{[51] [52] [53]}
• Eden, Odetta Gallery, Bushwick, NY, 2014 ^[54]
• Barely There, curated by Vadis Turner, Geary Contemporary, New York, NY, 2014 ^{[55] [56]}
• Mating Season, The Lodge Gallery, New York, NY, 2014 ^[57]
• Prickly, Tender and Steamy: Artists in the Hothouse, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY, 2014 ^{[58] [59]}
• SELECT 2014: WPA Art Auction Exhibition and Gala, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC, 2014 ^[60]

Awards

• 2016 ArtPrize Eight Sustainability Award, Grand Rapids, MI ^{[13] [48] [61]}
• 2017 NYFA Fellowship in the Crafts/Sculpture category, New York, NY ^[62]

Selected reviews, articles and publications

• Benetton, Luciano (2014). Caribbean: Together Apart: Contemporary Art from (parts of) the Caribbean (Catalog for Imago Mundi). Villorba, Italy: Fabrica. ^[63]
• Meier, Allison (7 July 2014). "When Snakes Could Walk: Contemporary Artists Take On the Garden of Eden". Hyperallergic . ^[51]
• Scher, Robin (14 April 2016). "Dallas Art Fair Announces Acquisition Program for its Fellow Museum". Artnews. ^[64]
• Sutton, Benjamin (1 April 2015). "Relics of a Future Environmental Collapse". Hyperallergic. ^[6]
• Sutton, Benjamin (1 July 2018). "The Allure of Excess". Artmaze Mag. No. 7. ^[65]
• Sutton, Benjamin (5 August 2014). "You'll Fall for 'Back to Eden' at the Museum of Biblical Art". Artnet . ^[52]
• Wheadon, Nico (1 May 2018). "Harlem Perspectives: Decolonizing the Gaze & Refiguring the Local". The Brooklyn Rail. ^[41]

References

1. Goodman, Jonathan (25 February 2022). "Lina Puerta". Sculpture . Archived from the original on 18 March 2025. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
2. "Public Art Project Pays Tribute to Women of Jackson Heights: Lina Puerta's Art on View September 24 through November 14, 2004". New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (Press release). 10 September 2004. Archived from the original on 5 June 2025. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
3. Puerta, Lina. "Lina Puerta Bio/CV". Lina Puerta. Archived from the original on 2 December 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
4. "Artists - Lina Puerta". Wave Hill . 2014. Archived from the original on 19 September 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
5. "Exhibition: Eden". Odetta Gallery. 5 July 2014. Archived from the original on 22 May 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
6. Sutton, Benjamin (1 April 2015). "Relics of a Future Environmental Collapse". Hyperallergic . Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
7. "Exhibitions - Lina Puerta: Manigua". Wallach Art Gallery | Columbia University . 2017. Archived from the original on 5 January 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
8. Murphy, Jocelyn (4 February 2018). "Five Minutes, Five Questions Artist Lina Puerta" . Arkansas Democrat-Gazette . Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
9. A Visible Tapestry: In the Studio with Lina Puerta (Video). Directed and Edited by Ava Lowrey. Southern Foodways Alliance. 1 October 2017. Archived from the original on 30 November 2017. Retrieved 2019-03-26– via Vimeo.
10. Cotter, Holland (16 December 2021). "Expanding the Scope of 'Latin American Art'" . The New York Times . ProQuest   2610521695. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
11. Bury, Louis (9 December 2021). "Lina Puerta's Art Mimics Botanical and Female Anatomical Forms". Hyperallergic . Archived from the original on 2 September 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
12. Dolle, Coco (February 2022). "Cultural Rebels: Latinx artist Lina Puerta brings her soft revolution to East Harlem". Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art . Archived from the original on 9 February 2025. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
13. "Lina Puerta". The Latinx Project at NYU. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
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15. "Lina Puerta at Smack Mellon, Brooklyn". ARTnews . 16 April 2018. Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
16. "Exhibitions - Lina Puerta: Manigua, 2017–2018". The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery . 2017. Archived from the original on 8 March 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
17. "Lina Puerta creates jungle in Miller Theatre with mural 'Manigua'". University Wire . 18 October 2017. ProQuest   1952645404.
18. "Exhibition: Within/Without, Lina Puerta". Geary Contemporary. 2017. Archived from the original on 18 June 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
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21. Borgen, Maibritt (2015). "Lina Puerta: Traces". Geary Contemporary (Exhibition catalog). Archived from the original on 19 June 2020.
22. "Exhibition: Traces, Lina Puerta". Geary Contemporary. 2015. Archived from the original on 19 March 2025. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
23. "NYAB Event – Lina Puerta 'La Muerte de un Arbol (The Death of a Tree)'". NY Art Beat. 2014. Archived from the original on 1 June 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
24. "Department of Cultural Affairs - City of New York - Annual Report 2015 - Materials for the Arts - FY15 Gallery Shows" (PDF). New York City Department of Cultural Affairs - Government of New York City . 2015. p. 48. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 February 2025. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
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29. "Exhibition — Building Radical Soil". The Latinx Project at NYU . 2022. Archived from the original on 19 May 2025. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
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31. "Ford Foundation Gallery Announces Opening of Radical Love" (Wire feed). Washington, D.C.: Targeted News Service. 23 May 2019. ProQuest   2229637158.
32. Abichandani, Jaishri (11 June 2019). "Radical Love". Ford Foundation . Archived from the original on 14 February 2025. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
33. Becker, Natasha (11 June 2019). "An Ode to Love". Ford Foundation . Archived from the original on 28 July 2024. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
34. "Exhibition: HyperAccumulators". Pelham Art Center. 2019. Archived from the original on 23 January 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
35. Yerebakan, Osman Can (1 November 2018). "Sedimentations: Assemblage as Social Repair". The Brooklyn Rail . Archived from the original on 31 May 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
36. "Living/Breathing". Morgan Lehman Gallery (Press release). 2018. Archived from the original on 27 November 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
37. Swidler, Kim Stuart (27 July 2018). "NYC: 'Art, Artists & You' Exhibit at the Children's Museum of Manhattan". Times Union . Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2019– via Children's Museum of Manhattan.
38. Stites, Alice Gray (2018). "Exhibitions: Labor&Materials". 21c Museum Hotels . Archived from the original on 15 January 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
39. Best, Tamara (12 May 2018). "A new show in Harlem highlights artists who live and work above 110th Street" . The Daily Beast . ProQuest   2037838577. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
40. "Exhibtions: Harlem Perspectives". Faction Art Projects. 2018. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
41. Wheadon, Nico (1 May 2018). "Harlem Perspectives: Decolonizing the Gaze & Refiguring the Local". The Brooklyn Rail . Archived from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
42. "Exhibitions - Site & Survey: The Architecture of Landscape". Frostic School of Art | Western Michigan University . 2018. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
43. Wirsing, Robert (15 November 2017). "Lehman College Exhibits Gothic Artwork". Bronx Times . Archived from the original on 1 June 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
44. "Events - ArtsArenaPLUS: Nature is Back!". The Arts Arena. 7 September 2017. Archived from the original on 9 February 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
45. "Exhibition – American Histories at Pi Artworks in London". ArtRabbit. 2016. Archived from the original on 24 January 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
46. "Exhibition: 20th Anniversary Show". Smack Mellon . 12 November 2016. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
47. "The Fed Galleries @ KCAD Explores Environmental, Social Responsibility in ArtPrize Eight Exhibition". Kendall College of Art and Design . 30 August 2016. Archived from the original on 2 June 2025. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
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54. "Eden". Odetta Gallery. 5 July 2014. Archived from the original on 22 May 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
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56. "Exhibition: Barely There, Ivin Ballen, Suzette Bross, Jonas Everets, David Goodman, Midori Harima, Meghan Petras, Lina Puerta, Todd Shalom, Vadis Turner, Saya Woolfalk". Geary Contemporary. 2014. Archived from the original on 19 March 2025. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
57. "Exhibitions: Mating Season". The Lodge Gallery . 27 May 2014. Archived from the original on 20 January 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
58. "Wave Hill Events 04.02.14". The Bronx Free Press . 2 April 2014. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
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