Isabella Mellado: Te Diré Quien Eres

Povos Presents Isabella Mellado: Te Diré Quien Eres

Mellado’s solo exhibition launches the gallery’s third year of emergent contemporary art programming, concurrent expansion to Povos Downtown, and inaugural EXPO Chicago showing. 

Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 10, 5-9pm

Povos West Town,  1541 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60642

Povos West Town is proud to present Isabella Mellado: Te Diré Quien Eres, the first Chicago solo show for Puerto Rican artist Isabella Mellado, and the inaugural exhibition for Povos Chicago’s third year of programming and subsequent expansion to a second gallery location downtown. The exhibition will be on view from April 10 through May 25, 2024. 

Mellado’s exhibition of paintings and small works is to Mellado as sigils are to the witch. This insignia of work reflects Mellado’s visual exploration of self-actualization through relationships—coven, platonic, romantic, familial & self. The title of this show is an excerpt from Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes, directly translating to “Tell me who you surround yourself with and I’ll tell you who you are.”

Mellado underlines queer trauma and Catholic shame by making reference to religious symbolism in Renaissance art. By relating gargoyles, demons, and angels as seen in Catholic art to the queer-coded figure in their paintings, Mellado reclaims and humanizes the queer “sin” and subsequently, the queer monster. Centralizing queer narrative as the artist has lived it, Mellado frames it with symbolism taken from mythology, folklore, tarot, astrology, and Puerto Rican pop culture.

“It will be our first exhibition in the renovated flagship space and our first exhibition with Isabella, but I think I speak for the whole Povos team when I say we want to open up with a bang,” said Lucca Colombelli, Povos’s founder. “It will set a certain magical tone for the year that I think persists in the rest of the 2024 programming at both locations. As a gallery committed largely to artists with unique languages and the ability to translate different cultures, Isabella is a welcome addition to the Povos ecosystem.” 

Mellado most recently exhibited at ESTACIÓN MATERIAL with Swivel Gallery as part of Mexico City Art Week 2024. 

Te Diré Quien Eres is timed to coincide with EXPO Chicago, during which time Povos is thrilled to make its international art fair debut in the esteemed EXPOSURE section. On April 12, Povos Downtown will celebrate its official opening with a group show featuring works by spotlighted Povos artists including Carolina Pereira and featured EXPO artists Ashkon Haidari and William Schaeuble. For more information about Povos Downtown and/or the gallery’s plans for EXPO, please reach out to press@povoschicago.com. 

ANCILLARY PROGRAMMING & EVENTS

Opening Reception (Povos West Town): Wednesday, April 10, 5-9pm

Povos West Town,  1541 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60642

Opening Reception (Povos Downtown): Friday, April 12, 6pm

Povos Downtown, 600 W Van Buren St, Chicago, IL 60607

Tarot and High Tea with Isabella Mellado: Sunday, April 14, 12-4pm 

Povos West Town,  1541 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60642

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Isabella Mellado is a Chicago-based painter and educator native to San Juan, Puerto Rico. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2018 and her Masters in Fine Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2023. Mellado is best known for her magical realist paintings on latinidad, queer identity and tarot. She works in a wide range of media including painting, photography, costume design, digital collage and sculpture.

Mellado is a 2023 Teacher Institute Fellow at the Museum of Contemporary Arts Chicago as well as a Spring 2023 Teaching Fellow at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been featured at art fairs such as Material Art Fair in Mexico City, MX; The Ponce Biennial in Ponce, PR; Pulse Contemporary Art Fair in Miami, FL and MECA Art Fair in San Juan, PR. Additionally, Mellado has exhibited at the Bronx Museum in New York, NY; Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago, IL; Walter Otero Contemporary Art in San Juan, PR and Swivel Gallery in New York, NY among others.

ABOUT POVOS CHICAGO

Povos is a contemporary art gallery committed to fostering the early careers of Chicago artists and beyond. Founded in 2020 by Artist and art educator Lucca Colombelli, the gallery focuses on diverse programming and collaborations that further the exposure and access of our artists. Now entering Year 3, the gallery launches a second location, “Povos Downtown,” in the Fulton Market District of Chicago. Welcoming new partner and Director Winston Guo, the different exhibition spaces will stagger openings on a monthly basis through 2024, while functioning  as an extension of Povos’s comprehensive programming. Committed to innovating infrastructure in the fine art space, Povos has also launched a new advisory board in tandem with its physical expansion. The gallery makes its art fair debut in April 2024 with EXPO Chicago, and looks forward to a year of ambitious programming thereafter.

For more information, visit povoschicago.com and connect with the gallery on Instagram. 

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Images (L-R):  Show flyer; The Hierophant (gouache on paper); The Magician (oil on canvas)