statement

My continuous interest and fascination to render realistically with oil paint, prompt me to integrate representational elements into my abstract work.  This work is set to explore the formal syntax of drapery. In addition to the method and treatment, I'm attracted to the potential shapes of drapery and its possible readings. While addressing the subject of drapery in classical Greece, Sir Kenneth Clark stated the following:  "Drapery, by suggesting lines of force, indicates for each action a past and a possible future."

My approach to the creative process is one focused on insight and emotional awareness. My paintings employ the medium of oil paint on different supports: substrates coated with dry gesso, yield a smooth, luminous surface that allows me to swiftly glide my drawing strokes of paint.

Substrates with oil-based grounds have a different ability to absorb and reflect light. For me, the application of paint and pigments to the supports is of great importance: be through a delicate layering and veiling process or through thick, resolute layers. The former allows me translucency and depth, the latter opacity and flatness. My conceptual and formal decisions are based on the analysis of color, form, and composition. The final resolution however, is a personal response obtained intuitively when I feel a strong visual composition is achieved.

bio

born: Mexico

education

NY, NY School of Visual Arts 1996
BA University of Coahuila,Mexico 1982

selected awards/honors

First Prize Architectural Design for Center XXI Coahuila, Mexico 1997
Coahuila State Grant, Painting Coahuila, Mexico,1996
Third Prize Painting Centro de Arte Vitro Monterrey, Mexico 1982
Fifth Prize Sculpture/installaton Centro de Arte Vitro Monterrey, Mexico,1982

selected publications

Mattera, Joanne, Is Where Space Ends Death or Infinity?, Joanne Mattera Art Blog, August 2010
Abstract Art Online, Zero Gravity/Heavy Weather, New York, NY  2007
Fragmented Reality, VANGUARDIA, Saltillo, Coahuila, MX 2004
Nostalgia on Canvas, PALABRA, Saltillo, Coahuila, MX 2004

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Leticia Ortega Cortes Paintings Solo Exhibition John Davis Gallery, Hudson NY,2011
Leticia Ortega Cortes Brief Sonnet, Installation, John Davis Gallery, Hudson, NY, 2006
Leticia Ortega Fragile Stories, Museo de las Culturas, Coahuila, Mexico, 2004
Winter Drawings, two-person installation, John Davis Gallery, Hudson, NY, 2011

selected group shows

Is where space ends death or infinity? two-person installation, John Davis Gallery, Hudson, NY2010
Group Exhibition, Ventura Museum, Ventura California,2009
When skies are hanged..two-person installation, John Davis Gallery, Hudson,NY 2009
Zero Gravity Painting Center, New York, NY 2007