Yolanda Gonzalez was given a gift at age 7 that would change the course of her life. It was a paint set, purchased by her grandmother, which put her on the path to becoming an artist who’s had work exhibited across the U.S. and world. But the gift was more than just an example of a grandparent spoiling their grandchild — it initiated Gonzalez into a family tradition of art-making that goes back to the 1800s.
“It absolutely does run in my family,” says Gonzalez, who has also exhibited work with other members of her family, including her mother. “[She] was so excited to exhibit her ceramics … it was so exciting for her to see her mother and her grandfather's work, and myself and my niece. So it was such an incredible, incredible exhibition.”
Gonzalez doesn’t have to share the spotlight with her family at her latest exhibition. It’s a career-spanning retrospective at the Museum of Latin American Art, or MOLAA, in Long Beach. The exhibition showcases her trademark use of bright and vivid colors, and her influences that stretch from Chicano art, but also German Expressionism, and various styles and artists from Japan and elsewhere.
Her travels and residencies overseas broadened her horizons as an artist beyond the confines of her native San Gabriel Valley. But back in the 90s, it was those global influences that led some to deem her art not Chicano enough.
“Everybody's really entitled to their opinion when they see art,” believes Gonzalez. “I think as an artist, it would be somewhat of a disgrace if I was not true to those influences and the process of creating what my soul has experienced throughout all of those years.”
Those experiences, and her dreams, inform Gonzalez’s artistic vision. The dream space remains a recurring source of inspiration. “Sueno,” the Spanish word for “dream,” frequently appears in the titles of her work.
“I really believe when we are in the dream space that we travel to other dimensions,” Gonzalez explains. Her art “is bringing to the realization on a canvas or a ceramic, the dreams that we have, [and] my interpretation of them.”
“My last breath when I lay down to go on to the other side, I'm going to be very happy because I really created a world and an environment for myself that was absolutely magical,” says Yolanda Gonzalez. Photo by Juan Escobedo, provided by MOLAA.
The MOLAA exhibition, which runs until the end of July, has been an “overwhelming” experience for Gonzalez. It has brought her to tears, but also made her proud of the work that began five decades ago with the gift of a paint set.
“My last breath when I lay down to go on to the other side, I'm going to be very happy because I really created a world and an environment for myself that was absolutely magical.”
Yolanda Gonzalez poses with one of her paintings. Photo courtesy of Yolanda Gonzalez