Tara Esperanza: I SEE YOU
October 23 - November 28, 2020
Mercury 20 is pleased to present Tara Esperanza’s first solo show at the gallery, I SEE YOU, an exhibit of large paintings of succulents with a new perspective.
Since 2018, Tara has been creating succulent paintings. In late 2017 she was commissioned to make a large painting (30″ x 64″) of particular succulents. Though at the time she had not paid much attention to succulents, she was a plant lover, so she gladly accepted. She began paying closer attention to succulents on her daily dog walks and runs. It quickly became an obsession and from there the series was born. She realized that she had passed so many gorgeous plants for years and never noticed their obvious beauty. She aims to make them seen through her paintings. Tara says, “They are beautiful and deserve to be seen in a big way, so I paint them big.”
She is interested in the plant personalities. The abundant varieties of texture, color, shape, and how succulents change with the seasons. She celebrates their diversity, how succulents share space, lean on each other, or hold each other up. Tara’s paintings look deep into the plants. In I SEE YOU she aims to bring the viewer in to offer a new perspective and share her intimate viewpoint of succulents through her art.
Available Work
Tara Esperanza
Tara Esperanza resides in Oakland CA, where succulents thrive year-round. When she is not painting, she is running and capturing images of succulents. Esperanza earned a BFA in Painting and graduated cum laude from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. In addition, she has studied plein air painting in Brittany, France. As a representational painter inspired by nature, she has dedicated years to meticulously portraying succulents. Esperanza’s paintings have been included in several group exhibitions at Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland, the Sturt Haaga Gallery in Los Angeles, and the Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery in Lafayette, as well as the Palace of Fine Art San Francisco, San Diego Museum of Art, the Museum of Northern California Art, Chico, CA and virtual galleries. She has had solo exhibitions at Mercury 20 Gallery, and the Women’s United Art Movement Virtual Gallery. Her work adorns the walls in private collections around the country.