esme silva

a painting of a van driving along a curved freeway against a background of blue sky and clouds and giant flames. the words "objects in mirror are closer than they appear" and "july 13-september 29,2023" in white sans serif font.

Esmeralda Silva in “Objects in Mirror are Closer than they Appear” // Arts of Life

Arts of Life and Circle Contemporary are excited to announce Objects in Mirror are Closer than they Appear.  An exhibition that features representations of automobiles and car culture as symbols of freedom, self-expression, safety, and individuality; while simultaneously demarcating these phenomena as functions of time and desire that epitomize the economic, cultural, and social conditions from which they appear.   Read More …

screenprint by Aletha Mederis

December NIAD Gallery Reception // “NIAD Ink: 35 Years of Prints” organized by Andres Cisneros-Galindo + “Luz y Luxe: A NIAD Holiday Shop”

Join the NIAD community to celebrate the exhibition “NIAD Ink: 35 Year of Prints,” an ambitious survey of print-based work by NIAD artists compiled by Andres Cisneros-Galindo, an artist, educator, activist, and facilitator who has worked with NIAD artists for almost 40 years. In NIAD Art Center’s galleries and studios, we’ll have an exhibition reception, cheerful winter food + drinks, an album release and music performance by NIAD artist Xiomara Rosales, a drum workshop by famed percussionist Peta Robles Izquierdo, and “Luz y Luxe,” a shop full of affordable contemporary art! Read More …

an assortment of fruit - grapes, bananas, cherries, limes - drawn with thick black outlines.

NIAD Gallery Exhibition // “What’s Cookin?!,” organized by Terri Moore and the Cooking Corner class

This show is all about comfort text: resilience in everyday words, writing and reading. Expression can also be wordless, the use of line and color as new vocabulary, pushing a thought out onto a surface, making marks and continuously trying to communicate with the world.

We tell stories to sustain ourselves and find each other. These messages embedded in art become an emotional telegram– a signal flare with a flame of memory trailing behind it. “Feeling Language” is about books, lists, slogans, language, gesture, touch and the trust given in sharing. Read More …

an assortment of fruit - grapes, bananas, cherries, limes - drawn with thick black outlines.

NIAD Main Gallery Exhibition // “What’s Cookin?!”

In the exhibition What’s Cookin?!, you will see food, art and creativity from various NIAD artists. So feel free to pull up a chair in your mind, take a seat at our dinner table, and see what’s cookin’! Cooking Corner is a place where artists can share artwork, make art, share food ideas and recipes, and interests they have in cooking, and also cook along with me from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Since we have returned to being on site, Cooking Corner has made its way back to the 23rd Street NIAD studio, where myself and a group of artists meet weekly, and come up with recipes to prepare, prep, cook and serve to the NIAD community. Read More …

A portrait of a cat with red fur and an amused expression.

NIAD Online Exhibition // “I Belong To Myself” organized by Maria Seda-Reeder

Being an artist who helps bring new, radical ideas into the world is neither an easy nor simple task. So it takes a certain, special kind of magic—charisma, self-belief, instinct—to move through the world going against the grain, as innovative artists so often do. I’m honored to have the chance to put forth this small sampling of artists from NIAD, an organization that likewise is working at the forefront of contemporary art.  Read More …

NIAD Online Exhibition // “I Wanna See All My Friends At Once” organized by Cone Shaped Top

Looking through works from the roster of NIAD artists, ideas around bodies coming together under the unifying force of music for release, freedom, self-expression and camaraderie began to emerge. Balloons, dancing, fearless fashion, music, friendship, colorful people and spaces filled with lights, projections and disco balls; all themes that form the ethos of our space. These works highlight motifs and sentiments that conjure the feeling of bliss from celebrating life with chosen families through music. Read More …