Tania Alcala nominated for SD Art Prize, hosted by Noel-Baza Gallery

“One must not forget that the earth seen from an airplane is more splendid than the earth seen from an automobile… the earth seen from an airplane is something else. I saw there, on the earth, the mingling lines, coming and going, developing and destroying themselves. I saw the simple solutions… I saw the wandering lines… yes I saw the earth as no one has ever seen it, the earth has a splendor that it never has had.” This was written by the American writer, Gertrude Stein in the early nineteen hundreds. But still a century later the sentiment Ms. Stein writes about the wonder that a bird’s eye view can reveal is shared by Tania Alcala a commercial airline pilot and local San Diego painter. For Ms. Alaca, “painting is the ultimate act of freedom, since it allows contradiction, passion, intuition, risk and exhilaration to come into play.” Tania Alcala was born and raised in Mexico City, where she studied oil painting under Juan Hernandez.. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Ottawa University in Phoenix, AZ and a master’s degree in Transformative Arts from John F. Kennedy University in Berkeley, CA. The sense of the ethereal that Alcala discovered in the paintings of artists like Mark Rothko, is what inspired her to become a commercial pilot to seek the freedom that she craved. Alcala’s atmospheric pieces convey her deeply moving experiences from the skies along with her lifelong fascination with color. These abstract, expressionistic works of art have an inner complexity, compellingly and sensuously immersing the viewer in a uniquely personal way. www.taniaalcala.com

Tania Alcala is represented by Noel-Baza Gallery. The gallery is housing the New Contemporaries II section of The San Diego Art Prize exhibitions, which feature both establish and emerging artists working in the San Diego Region. New Contemporaries II focuses on the emerging artist category of the SD Art Prize. This year thirteen artists are included in an eclectic and interesting show at the Noel-Baza Gallery. www.noel-bazafineart.com