Yvette Mayorga

I’m a Chicago-based artist working across installations, paintings, sculptures, and videos. Intentionally feminine and rooted in my Latinx heritage, my art exudes seductive charm with nostalgic undertones. Beneath this allure lies critical explorations of colonial art history, racialized oppression, and the deceptive allure of consumer culture and the American Dream, viewed through the lens of feminized labor and the color pink. 

Influenced by my parents' journey from Mexico to the US, my work blends personal stories with cultural critique, informed by a range of labor experiences from meatpacking to baking. Using cake nozzles, piping bags, acrylic paint, and more, I fabricate intricate Candylands that evoke confectionary piping. This labor-intensive process mirrors the toil of the working class, revealing bittersweet truths below the surface of the American experience.

The femininity inherent in confectionary labor is amplified in my deployment of pink, which I have weaponized to celebrate femme power and defy societal conventions. This contrast paints both whimsical fantasies and sobering reflections on the idealized visions of immigration and belonging. Thick layers of bubblegum-pink paint intertwine contemporary militarization imagery with recontextualized symbols of American pop culture—acrylic nails, faux eyelashes, food, shoes, cargear, and toys—prompting a critical examination of the pursuit of the American Dream through material accumulation.

The ornamentation in my work is inspired by the opulent excess of the 18th-century Rococo style, reflecting on economic disparities of that era and their parallels in contemporary American society. It also draws from the visual language of my transnational childhood, where the Rococo style influenced architecture in domestic and colonial religious spaces in the Midwest and Mexico. My work explores concepts of "status" encompassing both class and citizenship, surpassing borders to tackle broader issues of surveillance and inequality, while providing nuanced perspectives on access and privilege in the pursuit of the American Dream.

Yvette Mayorga (b. 1991) is a Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist known for her Rococo-inspired reliefs that merge confectionary labor with found images to explore themes of belonging. Dominated by the color pink, Mayorga celebrates femme power while questioning the allure of consumer culture and the American Dream as a first-generation Latinx.

Mayorga holds a MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from the University of Illinois. Her work has been showcased internationally, including exhibitions at the Museum of Arts and Design, NY; Vincent Price Art Museum, CA; El Museo del Barrio, NY; The Center for Craft, Asheville, NC; Museo Universitario del Chopo, CDMX; LACMA, CA; and solo exhibitions at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, CT (2024) and The Momentary at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AR (2022). Her works are in the collections of 21c Museum Hotels, Crystal Bridges, El Museo del Barrio, DePaul Art Museum, MacArthur Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the City of Chicago’s permanent public art collection at O’Hare International Airport. She has been featured in Artforum, Art News, DAZED, Galerie Magazine, Hyperallergic, Teen Vogue, The Guardian, The New York Times, and W Magazine.