Lorena Morales

The evolving nature of home and the significance of what this carries for an individual and their identity in a rapidly changing world is the impetus behind the work of contemporary visual artist, Lorena Morales. In her most recent series of works, Lorena Morales expertly translates the elements of line, form, shape, and space into dynamic expressions of place in time.

Morales achieves this through the interplay of translucency and light in the geometric structures she meticulously constructs, creating spaces within that evoke different sentiments for each viewer. In the changing light of day and in varying lines of sight, color and shadow are delicately cast into abstract patterns that fill the space and create a sense of movement and ephemerality.

With her collective works, Morales seeks to discover what it means to represent a concept that is so multidimensional—whether home is a sensation, a practice, or a state of being in the world. Her series challenges the viewer to further explore the simultaneously positive and negative feelings surrounding home; looking in, nothing may be what it appears from the outside.

Lorena Morales studied painting and sculpture at The Glassell School of Art in Houston, TX. In August 2021, artwork by Morales was among 74 pieces chosen for the City of Houston’s Civic Art Collection that will be featured in Houston’s airports. Upcoming in Spring 2022, Morales has been selected for a Drawing Research Residency at L’AIR Arts in Paris, France. In 2016, she completed a site-specific installation for Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center’s permanent collection. In 2015, Morales was invited to participate in SITE Houston—an exhibition transforming the honeycombed footprint of thirty-four renovated grain silos into a site-specific contemporary art installation. In 2011, she was invited by The Glassell School of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Carlos Cruz-Diez Foundation, of Paris, France, to participate in a seminar in Contemporary Art at Glassell. Morales currently lives in Houston.

View previous exhibition at Hooks-Epstein Galleries (2021): http://www.hooksepsteingalleries.com/the-home-i-carry-with-me

Artist's CV: 

Once Upon a Home XXII

Lorena Morales, "Once Upon a Home XXII", 2023, enamel and oil-based markers on hand-cut layered paper, 14 x 11"

Once Upon a Home II

Lorena Morales, "Once Upon a Home II", 2022, enamel and oil-based markers on hand-cut layered paper, 14 x 11"

Once Upon a Home XVII

"Once Upon a Home XVII", 2022, enamel and oil-based markers on layered painted hand-cut paper, modified vintage wallpaper, 14 x 11"

Shelter S11

"Shelter S11", 2022, enamel and oil-based markers on layered painted hand-cut paper, 20 x 16"

Shelter S04

"Shelter S04", 2022, enamel and oil-based markers on layered painted hand-cut paper, 20 x 16"

Sold Inventory

Once Upon a Home XII

"Once Upon a Home XII", 2022, enamel and oil-based markers on layered painted hand-cut paper, modified vintage wallpaper, 14 x 11"

Once Upon a Home XX

"Once Upon a Home XX", 2022, enamel and oil-based markers on layered painted hand-cut paper, modified vintage wallpaper, 14 x 11"

I Can Smell the Forest...

I Can Smell the Forest and See the Sky, 2021, oil based markers and spray paint on Plexiglas, zip ties, 10" x 10.5" x 15"
I Can Smell the Forest and See the Sky, 2021, oil based markers and spray paint on Plexiglas, zip ties, 10" x 10.5" x 15"
I Can Smell the Forest and See the Sky, 2021, oil based markers and spray paint on Plexiglas, zip ties, 10" x 10.5" x 15"

Embracing I

Embracing I, 2019, Micron and Lumocolor markers on Fabriano paper, 14" x 20"

Somewhere

Somewhere, 2016, spray enamel on plexiglas, 28 x 28"
Somewhere, 2016, spray enamel on plexiglas, 28 x 28"

Flight Plan: Migratory...

Flight Plan: Migratory Birds, 2014, spray enamel on plexiglass, 37 x 61"

Once Upon a Home VII

"Once Upon a Home VII", 2022, enamel and oil-based markers on layered painted hand-cut paper, modified vintage wallpaper, 14 x 11"

Once Upon a Home XVIII

"Once Upon a Home XVIII", 2022, enamel and oil-based markers on layered painted hand-cut paper, modified vintage wallpaper, 14 x 11"