Rooted in a decade of classical art training under fresco painter Francesco Santoro, pupil of Giorgio de Chirico and subsequently deconstructed through studies at Cooper Union, Ornella Polo's work in ink, charcoal, and oil expands drawing from preparatory gesture into an active spatial field. She approaches the surface as a site where time collapses — a continuous present in which past residue, present movement, and future possibility coexist.

Her work is guided by a dialogue between density and openness, where negative space operates as an active force: holding, resisting, and shaping form as much as the mark itself. Drawing from Flamenco's use of rests to mark and structure rhythm, gesture becomes a means of activating the field, allowing stillness and motion to inhabit the same moment. Underlying this approach is an ongoing inquiry into perception and the construction of reality, referencing archetypal imagery to build layered environments that suggest interior, exterior, and sometimes alternate worlds. Her compositions reach toward multiple dimensions, inviting the viewer to inhabit spaces that exist beyond the linear constraints of time — forms that resist fixed interpretation and call instead for a sustained looking that navigates the boundary between known reality and the unseen.

This exploration is deeply informed by Polo's migration from Venezuela to New York, echoing her family's earlier movement from Spain, while also engaging the rapid technological shifts that continually reframe how we locate ourselves in time and space. Her work holds this condition of flux — sustaining the tension between structure and entropy within a single frame.

Central to her practice is an interest in creating conditions for a more sustained and meditative engagement — deepening the work's capacity to hold multiple temporalities while remaining open and accessible.

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 Award. 

EXHIBITIONS ( SELECTED )

Rockella x NRAC Group Exhibition, New York, NY, 2026

Pop-Up Exhibition, 210 Forsyth Street, New York, NY, 2025

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

Painters Drawing, curated by Devan Avadikian & Lucy Tarquinio, The Cooper Union, New York, NY, 2021

OLA Senior Thesis Exhibition, The Cooper Union, New York, NY, 2021

Benjamin Menschel Fellowship Exhibition, The Cooper Union, New York, NY, 2021

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

Virtual BFA Show, Serving The People (stp.world), 2020

Tree Show, curated by Kian Mckeown, New York, NY 2020

Painting through Photography, curated by Francesco Santoro, Valencia, Venezuela, 2016

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

Full CV available upon request.