Victoria Morales

"Sanguinary Roses "
Oil on Canvas
36" x 48 "

Morales' keen sense of strong colors, embellished shapes and emotional landscapes evoke the influence of great surrealist expressionsist painters such as Diego Rivera, Frida Khalo, Salvador Dali and Georgia O'Keefe. As a New York born Puerto Rican, she taps into a wealth of creativity inspired by her early memories of life in El Barrio, with her great grandmother, set against the backdrop of a vibrant Spanish speaking community, and as a young girl learning from the great masters on weekly visits to new Yorks' famed Fifth Avenue museums.
Victoria endeavors to paint her own reality, incorporating her own personal symbolic icons into her work.
Morales was awarded first place in a national competition sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine and the Museum of Art (MOCA) in Baltimore. Her award winning painting will be showcased in an upcoming 2006 calendar designed by Johns Hopkins University and MOCA. She received a merit award in the Manhattan Arts International Annual "Herstory" competition. Her work has been showcased in the Schomberg Museum in Harlem, a LBGT Arts Recovery Exhibit in New York and Artscope: Emerging Latina Artists Exhibit in New Jersey.

Born in 1961, then raised in "El Barrio" Spanish Harlem as a young child, Victoria later moved to the Bronx with her family. Drawing at nine years of age, she then began painting at the age of eighteen. In New York City, Morales studied at the School of Visual Art and the Students Art League,under David Leffel, who influenced both her use of color and her choice of materials. She is currently a full-time artist living in Homestead, Florida, having relocated from New York.
Victoria Morales is featured as an upcoming fine artist and outstanding role model in Simply Sexy – Just As We Are! An Exclusive 2007 Calendar highlighting Positive, Sexy, Urban and Intelligent Images of Latina, African American and Caribbean lesbians. For more info: go to www.simplysexylesbians.com