ANA VILLAGOMEZ: SWEET SUBTERRANEANS
Nino Mier Gallery is pleased to present “Sweet Subterraneans“, an exhibition by Ana Villagomez. Ana Villagomez’s works are multi-chambered organisms in their own right. The different layers in her collage-like paintings interact with each other while also maintaining their own distinct presence.
April 22 – May 31, 2025
“The house in which she had lived as a child was the house of the spirit which does not live blindly but is ever, out of passionate experience, building and adorning its four-chambered heart—an extension and expansion of the body, with many delicate affinities establishing themselves between her and the doors and passageways, the lights and shadows of her outward abode, until she was incorporated into it in the entire expressiveness of what is outward as related to the inner significance, until there was no more distinction between outward and inward at all.”*
In Villagomez’s intuitive scenes, the emotional and the rational become entangled, while the recognizable and the mysterious engage in an ongoing dance. More than ever before, the works in Sweet Subterraneans form a vast, cohesive world—more defined, densely layered, and punctuated by cutouts. These cutouts, sometimes highly recognizable, are removed from their original context, mirroring the human impulse to relocate and reinvent.
The theme of movement and the search for a new home is deeply personal to Villagomez. Born and raised in Texas, she later relocated to New York, where she currently lives and works. Despite this, she remains closely connected to her roots abroad. As she puts it: “I could not make this work without my roots—I am Mexican American.” In today’s political climate, however, this identity has taken on a newfound complexity. Questions of belonging that once seemed unthinkable have now become pressing. “For the first time in 30 years, my American Identity is being questioned by those in power”, she reflects.
Rather than using conventional paintbrushes, Villagomez paints with her hands and body, giving her work a deeply corporeal identity. When she does not engage her body directly, she turns to discarded or repurposed household materials—old socks, duvet covers, and rags. This practice resonates with her roots, as Mexican muralists have long used such materials in their work.