"After Laughter" by Mitsy Avila Ovalles

Mixed media

2023

'Hardly Working' by Mitsy Avila Ovalles

Hardly Working an epic exhibit of solo proportions. Featuring the Artwork of Mitsy Avila Ovalles. Also known as Mitsy, this artist is a chingona: a badass.

Her works are well renowned in the Mexican American community in the Bay Area and beyond. The artist is rooted in San Jose, having graduated from SJSU with a BFA in Painting and a Minor in Chicano Studies, all with great praise.

Mitsy’s inspirations reflect an abundance of nostalgic memorabilia in the Mexican day to day household such as telenovelas and lucha libre, forgotten heroes of iconic Mexican and American pop culture immortalized in her wonderful paintings. As far as we can remember, Mitsy has been a leader in representing Mexican American culture through her artwork. She continues to reside in San Jose, forever staying low key and passionate about the Bay Area, hip hop music, graffiti, and sports.

This will be our second solo exhibition with Mitsy at Empire Seven Studios. The most frequent question asked will probably be, “Will Mitsy be here?” No, she probably will not attend. If it was Bansky, surely no one would expect him to show up. Inviting Mitsy to exhibit her works knowing that she would probably not be in attendance is no problem to us as curators, because we love her work, feel that it speaks for itself, and we’re proud to celebrate her on our walls with our audience. 

Mitsy has exhibited at Galeria De La Raza, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, LA 23Tres Galeria CDMX, White Walls Gallery, Fifty24LA, RVCA SF, and Space Gallery. SF Weekly writer Hiya Swanhuyser wrote, “I’ll say it quickly before I chicken out: Mitsy Avila Ovalles is severely talented. Someone needs to give her a ton of money so she can keep painting, or we’ll all lose.” 

Well, no one has given her a ton of money and she keeps on making her amazing work. Everyone who shows up Saturday November 11th will win, those who collect will triumph. Mitsy continues to create paintings, stitching, sewing, and illustrating full figured women; no one specifically, but the beautiful images could not be better executed than through a woman’s point of view. We believe more women need to be recognized for their own representation of their bodies, and create comfortability with their sexuality. 

“Hardly Working” is a new body of work with moments of reflection that many creatives with decades in their careers can relate to when taking a pause while time consumes the world.