FLIRT 🎀 my solo show in San Francisco opens on April 5th

Hope to see you at Upper Market Gallery, 4.5.24 - 4.21.24

Artist Portrait by Lauren Randolph

Hi friends! So excited to announce my next solo show, FLIRT 🎀, opens in less than two weeks at Upper Market Gallery in San Francisco on Friday, April 5th.

This is my debut solo show in San Francisco and I am delighted to be showing work where I grew up for the first time.

There will be a collector preview on Friday, April 5th and an opening reception on Saturday, April 6th. You can find more details and RSVP for both here. More programming to be announced.

FLIRT 🎀 will include eight new, mid-to-large scale, oil and acrylic abstract paintings. A collector preview will go out this week and a newsletter preview will go out next week. Please see below for my artist statement on this body of work.

Huge thank you to Nora and Olivia at Upper Market for their support and this opportunity.

I hope to see you in San Francisco! xo Alex

---

on FLIRT 🎀

FLIRT explores feminine embodiment, specifically the flavor of it that feels ecstatic, joyful, free and dare I say, irresponsible. 

Unapologetic girlhood. Insisting on staying soft. Giggling at inappropriate times. The thrill of texting your crush - and making them tell you a secret. Hugging a random gal in a club bathroom because you're drunk and you like her outfit. Wearing the dress. Wearing the heels. Wearing the ribbon in your hair. Giving your life to your besties. Ordering the extra martini. Brightness and boldness. 

detail from “love is too serious a thing (i think)”

These are paintings that pull you in filled with brushstrokes that flirt with you. The combinations of colors go from tonal to daring; each painting invites a surprise, each painting invites you to first dance on the surface, then go deeper… but only if you feel intrigued. 

I sometimes think love is too serious a thing – life is too serious a thing. In a time when womanhood feels more and more under attack and at a time where my peers are going through everything from marriages to births to divorces, the idea of flirting feels lost and foreign, from a time too long ago. And that is why it feels important. 

To invite lightness, to invite joy, to sit in the medial space where everything is a possibility and everyone is still a perfect idea, feels amongst the boldest and the most revolutionary acts I, as a woman, can take. 

I want more joy for us. For a moment, I want to thrust responsibility aside, I want to forget the heaviness of the world. I want to flirt. 

— alex maceda, joshua tree, ca, march 2024