International Visions Gallery is pleased to present an exhibit of mixed media paintings by artists Béatrice Mellinger (“Bela”) and Scherezade Garcia, on view June 16 through July 31, 2010. Bela, who was born in Martinique, and Garcia, who is Dominican-American, both reference their Caribbean heritage as the force behind a passionately creative spirit.

Bela explains, “Painting allows me to reconcile my multicultural references…the influence of my ancestors, my world travels, and the Western Civilization which I am culturally grounded.” The fusion of cultures in her island nation – French, African, and Asian, native – is celebrated and contemplated in vivid compositions.

For Garcia, these creations “are her memories;” recollections “of a faraway home, and the hopes and dreams that accompany planting roots in a new land.” The New York Times writes, “Ms. Garcia matches those expectations with the reality, asking her subjects to reflect upon the success and failure of their hopes and dreams.”

Béatrice Lampla Mellinger, also known as Bela, her artist signature, was born in Martinique and now resides in Brasilia, Brazil.  Although Bela developed a love of art early on, it was not until adulthood that she dedicated herself to painting. She has studied art extensively, including at the Centre de Diffusion et d’action Culturelle in Nice, France and the Escuela de Artes in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Her paintings have been exhibited at the International Caribbean Art Fair in New York City, Sandy Spring Slave Museum and African Art Gallery (MD), Centre de Diffusion et d’action Culturelle (France), and multiple galleries in the Washington, DC area.

Brooklyn-based artist Scherezade Garcia was born in the Dominican Republic, and moved to New York in 1986 to study at Parsons School of Design. Recently, she earned her MFA from City College of New York. Her work has been widely exhibited, in venues including the Queens Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio (New York), the Museum of Modern Art in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), and the Havana and Caribbean Biennials. Her work can be found in the collections of the National Palace of the Dominican Republic, the Consulate of the Dominican Republic in Haiti, the Barceló Public Collection in Santo Domingo, and the Museum of Modern Art in Santo Domingo.

Show: June 17 - July 31
Opening reception: Saturday, June 19 (6:30pm - 9pm)