An Exhibit of Works by Alexandria Canchola

Galeria 409 will be hosting Alexandria Canchola’s solo show, Is This It?, in which she will debut a newly completed series of gouache illustrations and lithography prints centering on storytelling and narrative.

The show will feature a selection of works ranging from interpretations ofclassical paintings to studies on loneliness, solitude, and voyeurism.

The pieces on display reflect a broad range of work: lithography poster design, book illustration, handlettering, as well as a series of gouache paintings.

The artwork created by Canchola was made as part of her continuing quest to document daily life through the use of narrative. These works on paper depict beach scenes, swimmers, curious interiors, landscapes, and the daily quiet moments in life.

“My artistic research is rooted in my interest in stories. Stories can be a form of escapism, a way of existential problem-solving, and more importantly they provide a way of connecting us to the human condition.”

For the last year, Canchola has been working on a book project, Not that Tragic, that combines her love for narrative, illustration, design, and hand lettering. The exhibition will feature selections from Not That Tragic, that speak to the themes of loneliness and voyeurism found in the book. Her work is driven by the power a narrative has in communicating emotion.

“Combining the universal and the personal is what I hope to do within my work. I am more interested

in what engages the audience on a personal level emotionally,” She said. “I use color as a foundation of this expression. I often abandon the conventional rules of drawing and proper perspective and instead use a burst of color so that I can express emotion. I feel things through color, it gives my illustrations a voice, it communicates a mood that at times I use to contrast with the actual narrative of loneliness, solitude, and/or melancholia. Through the use of color I hope to document the human experience by connecting narrative and emotion.”

Canchola is a designer and illustrator, based in Edinburg, Texas, who loves drawing and painting as much as dragging and dropping. Her career in the arts was not quite a straight line path, but instead included detours in the fields of journalism and filmmaking. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Government and Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, she worked at an alternative weekly newspaper in Ithaca, New York. She is currently a Master of Fine Art student at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley studying 2D Design and Printmaking.