ARTIST BIO

Born in Madrid in 1994, JoCa is a multidisciplinary artist currently based between Vancouver and Mexico City. Her work delves into the intersections of identity, technology, and societal transformation, particularly in the context of artificial intelligence and the ever-evolving landscape of social media. JoCa’s artistic journey began at a young age with a fascination for pencil drawing, which she first explored as a teenager. Over time, she gravitated toward the more tactile and versatile mediums of oil and acrylic paints, which became the cornerstone of her artistic practice. Her expressive style combines the classical elements of portraiture with abstract concepts, offering viewers a unique lens through which to explore the fractured nature of contemporary identity.

JoCa is particularly intrigued by the anonymity and hyper-reality fostered by social media platforms and virtual environments like the metaverse. This fascination is manifest in her series of abstract portraits, which blur the lines between human faces and digital interfaces. These works act as a visual commentary on the constant reformation of self-image in an era of surveillance, filters, and virtual avatars. She is also interested in depicting her own journey through mental disorders via these works. This is a thematic that she's still exploring and which is evolving through her most recent series. The faces in her works often appear fragmented, distorted, or partially obscured, invoking a sense of alienation that mirrors the internal fragmentation she herself has experienced. The blurred features and overlapping shapes convey a psychological tension, suggesting the difficulty of establishing a cohesive identity in an increasingly mediated world, combined with the complexities of mental breakdown.

An art critic described JoCa’s portrait series as “a poignant reflection on the ways technology has altered our perception of the self. Her abstracted figures appear caught between multiple identities, unable to fully coalesce into a single, recognizably human form. This dislocation speaks to the identity crisis that accompanies our immersion in digital worlds, where self-expression is fragmented, and reality is no longer fixed.”

JoCa's artworks have been exhibited in select contemporary galleries across Europe and North America, earning recognition for her compelling exploration of contemporary themes through traditional painting techniques. Notable exhibitions include her presence at a group show at La Galería de Arte de Bilbao, where her abstract portrait series "Identity Lost" captivated visitors with its emotional depth and complexity. In Vancouver, she had her first solo exhibition "Virtual Selves" at Gallery 44, a small but respected gallery known for championing emerging artists, where her play with identity in her compositions was hailed for her technical mastery and conceptual rigor. Additionally, some of her abstract pieces were shown at La Casa Café Independiente de Cultura in Barcelona, where her second solo exhibition sold out.

JoCa’s work challenges the viewer to reconsider the very nature of identity and how it is constructed, both in the physical and digital realms. Furthermore, she's also gained notoriety for "kidnapping" all of her original oils in 2023 and 2024, purposfuely not selling them to anyone. In an interview with a local Spanish magazine she mentioned she would "start selling (her) original oils when (she) felt that (she) no longer needed them around to ensure that this realm is, in fact, the real one."