Marianna Olague in her studio. (Courtesy of the artist, 2023)
ABOUT
Marianna Olague’s work is about living in the borderland desert of El Paso, Texas. Using portraiture to explore what it means to be Mexican American in the 21st century, Olague provides a glimpse into the private lives of Mexican Americans, using her family and close friends as models for her brilliantly hued portraits. Her newest series of paintings, People You Know, examines the way her subjects change over time, each portrait bearing witness to the different roles and identities her family and friends take on as they adapt to the milestones and challenges in their lives. Olague’s use of pure color imbues her compositions with a dazzling vitality. Shedding the expected palette, a girl on a park bench becomes a study in purple, concrete walls look like sunsets and foliage turns cobalt blue. All becomes a celebration of the Mexican American culture and community of southern Texas.
Marianna Olague has an MFA in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI and a BA from the University of El Paso, El Paso, TX. Her work is in multiple private and public collections including the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, El Paso, TX and Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI. Olague’s painting, Customer Service Representative, 2020, is included in the Outwin 2022, American Portraiture Today which opened at the Smithsonian Museum’s National Portrait Gallery in April 2022 and is traveling through 2024 to the Orlando Museum of Art; Orlando, FL; Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC; Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA; and Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI. Olague’s work has been shown in multiple exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit including in the McNay Museum San Antonio TX, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C. Awards include the 2021 Chinati Foundation Residency, the 2019 Künstlerhaus Bethanien Residency, Berlin and the 2019 Mercedes-Benz Emerging Artist Award.
Marianna Olague lives and works in El Paso, Texas, she is represented by David Klein Gallery.