LOLA MONTEJO

Lola Montejo creates abstract expressionistic paintings that are the results of layering seemingly incongruous materials, textures, colors, technique,s and processes that result in intriguing compositions that slowly reveal themselves. The structure of her paintings begins with deliberate shapes and marks, but as she builds or deconstructs the surface, it becomes an organic process: a dialogue between the artist, her materials, and the work of art.

Each of the places Montejo has lived has influenced her aesthetic in ways that are as layered as her work itself. She was born in Portsmoth, England but since her family is originally from Spain, they returned to Madrid when she was very young. From there the Montejo family traveled until finally immigrating to the United States when she was a teenager. For a short period of time, the family lived in New York where Montejo first experienced American abstraction and the New York School artists’ unrestrained freedom of expression.

Montejo’s grandmother was an artist and her dad was a tenor, so their home became an informal salon where musicians and visual artists often gathered and whose conversations sparked an appreciation and understanding of art in Montejo.

Each of these diverse places and people informs and inspires Montejo’s work and serves as a foundation for Montejo’s formal education; earning her BFA from the Metropolitan University of Denver where she studied on a full academic scholarship. Soon after, Lola did a graduate program at the University of Colorado Denver in Pedagogy and from there she continued her education at Azusa Pacific University in California where she earned her MFA in Studio Arts.

Before going on to graduate school, Montejo spent a summer in a residency in France. It was after the residency in France that Montejo began painting abstractly. During a visit to the Musée Picasso in Paris, she was reminded of her childhood admiration for Picasso and her ever-present connection with abstraction.

Lola currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado and is an adjunct professor at Front Range Community College where she teaches painting, drawing and art history.