Paintings, Site-specific Drawings and Murals
"Paz de la Calzada, a native of Spain, is an artist working in drawing, installation and sculpture. She received a BFA at the University of Salamanca, Spain, and her MFA at UNAM, Mexico City.
Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including the San Jose Museum of Art, the Palo Alto Art Center, the Berkeley Art Center, the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco, the Union Fenosa Museum and the Fundacion Caixa Galicia in Spain and the Leon Trotsky Museum and the San Angel Cultural Center in Mexico City.
Paz came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2003 as an Artist in Residence at Djerassi Resident Artist Program. Since then she has been in several residency programs like Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, Millay Colony for the Arts in New York and Valparaiso Foundation in Spain. She is a recipient of a Cultural Equity Grants by the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Academy of As an artist, my vision is to create thoughtful art projects that include the local community. I am powerfully moved by art’s capacity to transform the relationship we have with the urban environment and with ourselves.
I create large, site-specific drawings and temporary projects in dialogue with the urban landscape, fostering a real and direct interaction with the public. My whimsical installations play with existing architecture, creating intricate labyrinths that provide a pathway from the public sphere into a contemplative and spiritual realm, thus linking two very isolated worlds.
Born and raised during the democratic transition in Spain, I witnessed the subversive counterculture that flourished in a country that moved from a systemic oppression and censorship to a path of self-liberation, awakening and healing.
Growing up in an environment where national catholicism was blended with ancient pagan rituals, superstition and plant magic, inspired me to create art projects that investigate the significance of nature to human life, highlighting art’s capacity to heal the broken aspects of our society.
My site-specific installations and paintings draw audiences into unexpected and potentially liminal experiences elevating banal materials into sublime meditative landscapes that encourage contemplation, introspection and healing.
