Six Texas artists explore their self-identities through a series of individual styles, techniques and motifs in “My Mirror Is Just Fine,” opening Saturday, June 12, at The Collective.
Houston artists Lauren Janelle, Alexis Pye, Matthew Napoli and Mathieu Jean Baptiste join San Antonio’s Cassidy Fritts and Mauro de La Tierra for the group show, which runs through July 30 in the Midtown/Third Ward Gallery.
Baptiste is of Haitian ancestry, and his rich heritage attributes to his impeccable ability of infusing culture and art. He is a self-taught, visual artist known for his paintings, murals and metal sculptures. The core of his artistic prowess is his belief that art should teach, heal and inspire.
Mauro de la Tierra, a first-generation Mexican American from San Antonio, is a self-taught painter, sculptor and illustrator. What began with street art transitioned into canvas and beyond. His work focuses on socio-economic challenges and generational struggles such as the prison industrial complex, poverty, addiction and the deterioration of the earth.
Fritts, whose dedication is to community and youth empowerment, is a painter, printmaker and muralist. Her artwork typically explores topics of personal identity, mental health and community. Fritts has a passion for immigration advocacy, anti-gentrification work and education reform.
Janelle, also known as LJANELLE, is a figurative artist whose creative process is an exploration of her own personal identity and history through painting, drawing and multimedia work. Many of the figures in her art serve as self-portraits, not just of the physical form, but of the mental and emotional state. There is an anonymity, yet familiarity in her figures that draw out different meanings depending on the viewer.
Napoli is a visual artist specializing in oil painting and drawing. He earned his associate’s degree in fine art from San Jacinto College in Houston in 2017, his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore in 2021 and is currently starting his graduate studies at Texas Christian University.
Pye is a working artist creating portraiture. She uses this tradition to unveil the ”fantastical truths about the relationship between art history and race.” At her most recent exhibition in September 2020 she was part of a group show in the Netherlands called “This Is America: Art USA Today,” which dealt with the subject matter of the recent political climate.
The exhibition is curated by Miles Payne.