Our Wishes | Nuestros Deseos
February 1 - April 3, 2021
Abad◮Anaya is a proud person of color (POC) collaborative duo who met at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2019. This year they are creating ongoing installations with the intention to uplift the community. They envision art that has the ability to empower and create conversations.
Our Wishes | Nuestros Deseos will be created with community input and exhibited at One Boulder Plaza in February 2021. The public is encouraged to share their wishes with Abad◮Anaya through this online form.
What is your message of hope?
¿Cuál es tu mensaje de esperanza?
About the Artists
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Alejandra Abad is an interdisciplinary visual artist with a penchant for dense abstract shapes, and fantastical landscapes. Her playful drawings, paintings, and prints become moving images. Her work centers around collaborative projects, immersive installations, collages, and animation that reflect her identity and values. Her style is informed by her studies in Architecture at Florida Atlantic University and Film, Video, and New Media at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received her BFA. In 2018 she received a fellowship at University of Colorado Boulder, where she is currently pursuing an MFA in Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices. Her recent projects feature conceptual and collaborative pieces that work to break down the barriers between artist and audience. She creates honest narratives and symbolism based on a visual language that depicts fragmentation, mythology, transformation and folklore.
Growing up in the state of Wyoming, being a member of the queer community, being raised in an actively Catholic Mexican family, and experiencing and witnessing many medical hardships play a large role in the work that Román Anaya creates. He combines family, history, religion, illness, and upbringing to explore unique and alluring ways to present his life experiences. He finds inspiration in dichotomous life experiences and beliefs, such as the interface between medical science and religion, pervasive machismo in his own culture while being a queer male, and other combinations of these concepts. Anaya developed his current artistic trajectory while completing his BFA in Photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and is looking forward to refine it while pursuing his MFA at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Program partners include: Museo de las Americas, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Art District on Santa Fe, RedLine, Downtown Boulder Foundation, City of Boulder, Boulder Arts Commission, One Boulder Plaza Management, W.W. Reynolds and University of Colorado Boulder Office for Outreach and Engagement.
About Art @ One Boulder Plaza
Now in its third year, Art @ One Boulder Plaza explores art and its themes inspired by various local artists. This installation will take place outdoors at One Boulder Plaza in downtown Boulder, and is the first of a series of installations and programs in 2021.
Images: The artists Alejanda Abad and Román Anaya. Rendering of installation. Courtesy of Abad◮Anaya.