Como el agua / Like water

Ornella Polo's works are deeply tied to the immediate nature of drawing, emphasizing flow, and movement through Minimalism. Her artistic foundation is grounded in a decade-long training in classical painting. In an exploration of the balance~chaos dynamics of drawing; often perceived as a raw, imperfect, or undone stage in art-making, it holds a central role in her practice. As a result, transforming the language of line into absolute spaces.

Rooted in classical art training, influenced by Symbolism, and an attention to the raw, the essential and impermanent, found in Wabi-sabi and Flamenco philosophies, her practice invites the viewer to deconstruct the known and find transformation in all states in between; to create motion within presence - like water 𓂃 in flux, always becoming. Through the mediums of ink, oil paint, and charcoal primarily, her proposal nurtures simplicity and presence within multidimensional scenarios

Currently based in New York City, Ornella Polo is an alumna of the Cooper Union School of Art and Universitat de Barcelona. Awarded with The Benjamin Menschel & The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fellowship, The Full Tuition Merit Scholarship, The Innovator Merit Scholarship, and The James Craig & Irene Scala Designing with Type Awards Merit Scholarship at The Cooper Union.

Exhibitions:

Works are currently available online through ornellapolostudio.com, via select consignment partners, and through direct-to-collector releases.

• The Patriot, curated by Jamian Juliano-Villani, O’Flaherty’s, New York — 2022

• Painters Painting Drawing, curated by Devan Avadikian & Lucy Tarquinio, 41 Cooper Sq, New York — 2021

• OLA Senior Thesis Exhibition, The Cooper Union, New York — 2021

• The Benjamin Menschel Fellowship Exhibition, The Cooper Union, New York — 2021

• River Show, curated by Kian Mckeown, Queens, NY — 2021

• Virtual BFA Show 2020, Serving The People — 2020

• Tree Show, curated by Kian Mckeown, New York — 2020

• The Cooper Union Painting, Photography, Audiovisual, 2D & 4D Shows, New York — 2018–2019

• Painting Through Photography, curated by Francesco Santoro, Valencia, Venezuela — 2016

• Arianna y el laberinto, Centro Cultural Eladio Alemán Sucre, Valencia, Venezuela — 2015