Maya Hewitt at Marta Cervera

Galería Marta Cervera is pleased to announce Cross My Heart, the first solo exhibition by Maya Hewitt in Spain. The show will be on view from Nov 19, 2020 until Jan 16, 2021.

The series of works that compose Cross My Heart came about after Maya Hewitt became a new mother. They evolved from the emotions that this time period was filled with, embracing concepts of transcendental value such as birth, life, faith and family.

Combining references of the Madonna and child in art history and religious icons with autobiographic elements from her Philippine roots, the paintings evoke subjective visions where the physical and emotional states confound, seeking upon ancestral connections. Ultimately, Cross My Heart revolves around the dynamics between two figures, a mother ́s instinct to protect her child and the contradictory emotions involved in motherhood.

The artist begins her paintings with an open-ended structure, letting the narrative unfold throughout the process of their production. Her ink drawings are the starting point, where feelings and emotions translate directly into shape and color. The oneiric environments depict parallel realities, both the internal and external, that merge in dreamlike set designs. The human figure in Hewitt ́s imagery represent the precarious balance between intimacy and exposure. Childish paraphernalia such as toys, figurines, balloons and posters become ghostly apparitions protectively watching over. The aforementioned are borrowed from different cultures and some of these humanoid figures deconstruct preconceived notions of motherhood and childhood that have been imposed, revealing what lays behind the mask.

Maya Hewitt (1981, London, UK) received her BFA at the University of Brighton in 2004, the Awarded Placement at the Nagoya University of Arts in 2003, a grant from the Daiwa Anglo- Japanese Foundation (UK). She was an artist in residence at Tokyo Wonder Site (Aoyama) and Luzhu Village (Taiwan). Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at Nunu Fine Art (Taiwan), Misako & Rosen (Tokyo), 10 Chancery Lane (Hong Kong), Bischoff / Weiss (London). Her work has been featured at Thomas Olbricht Collection (Berlin), Reydan Weiss Collection (Oberstdorf), IMOCA (Dublin), SOKA Art Center (Taipei y Beijing); the art fairs Frieze London and Art Fair Tokyo; and the galleries Union Pacific (London), Flux Factory (New York), The Mall (London), Studio A (London), Mark Rome Gallery (Gstaad), R.K Burt Gallery (London), Plus Gallery (Nagoya), NUA Gallery (Nagoya).