UTA Artist Space is pleased to present Garden of Eve, Harmonia Rosales’ second solo exhibition in Los Angeles and first at UTA Artist Space. Building on past exhibitions, Garden of Eve brings together previously shown and never before seen works to tell the story of creation through the eyes of women and Orishas, deities of the African Diaspora.

Growing up in Chicago, Rosales’ worldview and artistic practice were heavily informed by her Afro-Cuban American background. Going to museums as a child, Rosales was fascinated by the impeccable skill and composition of Renaissance masters, but deterred by the Eurocentrism and paternalism of their work. Her paintings bring new life to Renaissance style by reimagining hegemonic narratives with Black and Latinx subjects at the forefront of familiar religious and Greco-Roman stories.

Central to the exhibition is Rosales’ re-interpretation of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, an installation spanning five years of her work. Looking up, one sees the concave interior of an upturned slave ship, completed with Rosales’ vision of the genesis of Earth, its people, and the histories of their lives. Entwined between the paintings, Rosales’ Ignudi show the varied beauty of the African Diaspora with powerful figures that twist and pull against the architecture. Sounds of the creaking, rocking ship making its way through the Atlantic slave trade pierce through the gallery space and accompany the paintings from which the piece was stitched together. Limited edition, hand-embellished prints of this work will be released at the opening celebration.

Rosales’ works are ripe with symbolism, meaning, and history. In Garden of Eve, Yemaya (the orisha of motherhood and the sea) shields her eyes amidst the beautiful chaos of flower petals and children. The disruption of her perfect garden intentionally parallels the disruption of the African continent. Works like Dinis Dias: Land of the Negros draw direct inspiration from historical documents and figures, depicting Pope Nicholas V with his papal bull condoning slavery. Within the panels of this triptych and many of her other works, the artist chooses a strangler fig to symbolize the impulse of greed, with its alluring quality and organic desire to destroy its host once sprouted. Ultimately, Rosales sees an amalgam of tragedy and beauty in disorder because it grants onlookers the courage to look beyond a dominant narrative.

In bringing together old and new works, Garden of Eve represents a culmination of Rosales’ oeuvre, which aims to elevate untold stories and call into question the narratives we have been told time and time again. Her reinterpretations of classical tales don’t intend to take their place as a new canon, but rather to expand the possibilities for endless creation stories and histories to be told. Rosales encourages viewers to find and listen to their Ori, or inner voice and destiny, and push back against the temptations and influences we face, to strive for a better future.

This November, amfAR’s 12th Annual Gala Los Angeles will feature Harmonia Rosales’ painting Portrait of Eve (2022), on view as part of this exhibition. From March through June 2023, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (MBMA) will host their highly anticipated exhibition Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative. In addition to exhibiting select works from Garden of Eve, the exhibition will debut Rosales’ painting Migration of the Gods (2021) at the MBMA, the Museum’s first acquisition made possible through the recent $5-million endowment of the Blackmon-Perry Curatorial Fellowship of African American Art and Art of the African Diaspora.