Jasmine Zelaya is a multi- disciplinary first generation Honduran- American artist based in Houston, Texas. The daughter of parents who immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1970’s, much of the artist’s work references the aesthetics of that period. Zelaya’s work explores themes of identity, assimilation and the brown body through a familial narrative rich with symbolism. Zelaya received her BFA in Painting in 2006 from the Kansas City Art Institute. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Blaffer Art Museum (Houston), Project Row Houses (Houston), The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (Lubbock), and was recently included in the 2021 Texas Biennial: A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon, at the San Antonio Art Museum. Recent public art projects in Houston include Twins for Art Blocks at the Main Street Marquee and Detroit Red at the Moody Center for the Arts. Her work is included in major corporate and private collections and has been featured on television media and in numerous publications, including as a cover artist for New American Paintings (#132).
Statement
My work is informed by my experience as a first generation, LatinX artist. Through portraiture and the language of paint, I am interested in exploring themes of identity.
Floral elements are utilized as graphic representations of not only a familial narrative, but also the contrast of the natural and artificial world. The subjects are at once disengaged while others display various degrees of intimacy.
Get in touch.
Client List
ABC Network
BET Network
Caydon
CitizenM Hotels
Google
Live Nation Worldwide, Inc.
NBCUniversal
OMA NY
Rice University
Curriculum Vitae
Exhibitions
2023
“Form & Function”, Ivester Contemporary, Austin, TX
“Soy de Tejas- A Statewide Survey of Latinx Art”, curated by Rigoberto Luna, Centro de Artes, San Antonio, TX
2022
“Late Bloomers”, Ivester Contemporary, Austin, TX (Solo)
”Texas Emerging Vol. III”, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, TX
”In Blue”, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX (Solo)
”Sad Girls”, Art League Houston, TX (Solo)
”Between Spaces”, Partnership Tower, Houston, TX (Solo)
”FEMME”, FLXST Contemporary, Chicago, IL
2021
“Portraits: Impressions of Our Times”, LHUCA, Lubbock, TX
”Between Here and There”, Paradice Palase, Virtual Exhibition
”New Contemporaries”, Dodomu Gallery, Virtual Exhibition
”Texas Biennial: A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon”, curated by Ryan N. Dennis and Evan Garza
”Girls Are Gods, Too”, curated by Jaelynn Wells, The Curators, Virtual Exhibition
”Phases”, Dear Artists, Virtual Exhibition
”Speak Low”, Sleepy Cyborg Gallery, Rice University, Houston, TX (Solo)
”Carriers: the Body as a site of Danger and Desire”, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, TX
2020
”Sugar Water”, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX
”Ruminations”, Houston Community College, Stafford, TX (Solo)
”Mask Show 2020”, Curated by Essentials Creative, San Antonio Central Library, San Antonio, TX
2019
“Be. Long., I Like Your Work Juried Exhibition”, Dutoit Gallery, Dayton, OH
”Biophilia”, curated by MAAKE Magazine, Unpaved Gallery, Yucca Valley, CA
Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Space HL, Houston, TX
”Intersectionality of Inquiry”, Clamp Light Gallery, San Antonio, TX
”Poems, Protest and a Dream”, curated by MantecaHTX for Latino Art Now!, MECA, Houston, TX
”Wallflowers”, Space HL, Houston, TX (Solo)
”Corazones”, MECA, Houston, TX
2018
“Neither Here Nor There”, Box13 Window Box Installation, Houston, TX
”Mujeres del Sur”, The Union Gallery, Houston, TX
”The Big Show!”, curated by Evelyn C. Hankins, PhD, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
2017
“The Big Show!”, curated by Toby Kamps, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
2014
Peep Show: Sneak Peek of P3, The Aquarium Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2013
“Grand Opening!”, Alonzo Gallery, Houston, TX
”Bald Beast”, The Aquarium Gallery, New Orleans, LA (solo)
2012
“Home: A Juried Exhibition”, The Writer’s Place, Kansas City, MO
2006
“Lotteria”, Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery, Kansas City, MO
”The Chicano Experience”, Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery, Kansas City, MO
’BFA Thesis Exhibition”, H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City, MO
2005
“The Revolving Door”, KCAI Crossroads Gallery, Kansas City, MO
”Dia De Los Muertos”, Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery, Kansas City, MO
”Garth Brooks and Chris Gaines”, Alice Gallery, Kansas City, MO
”Our Lady of Guadalupe”, Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery, Kansas City, MO
”WTF?”, Leedy Voulkos Art Center Opie Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2001
Final Show, The Oxbow School, Napa, CA
Public Works & Creative Experience
2023
Public Work, The Ion, Houston, TX (forthcoming)
Window Works, Downtown District Public Art, Houston, TX (forthcoming)
2022
Double Headed Figure, City Centre, Houston, TX
2021
Mural commissioned by Live Nation & OMA NY for 713 Music Hall VIP Room at The Post, Houston, TX
Painting commissioned by Google for Google Houston office, Houston, TX
2020
”Detroit Red”, Public Commission, Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Houston, TX
”Our Systems Are Failing Us”, installation, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX
”Purple Coneflower Mural”, Project Row Houses Boardroom, El Dorado Ballroom, Houston, TX
”House of Cards”, Discovery Green, Houston, TX
Custom painted bicycle, B- Cycle, Houston, TX
”Marigold Mural”, Pondicherri Bake Lab, Houston, TX
Lawndale Lending Library, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
2019
“Tribute to Naomi Polk Murals”, Arts District Houston, Houston, TX
”Two of Hearts Panels 1 & 2”, Drewery Place, Caydon USA Private Collection, 2019
Finalist, United Airlines Artworks, Terminal C, at George Bush Intercontinental Airlines in association with Houston Arts Alliance, Houston, TX
Lawndale Lending Library, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
Artist Talk, Poems, Protest and a Dream, MECA, Houston, TX
Artist Talk, Wallflowers, Space HL, Houston, TX
2018
Public Art Mural Commission, Main Street Marquee, Art Blocks Houston, Houston, TX
Panelist, Mujeres Speak, The Union Gallery, Houston, TX
Artist Talk, The Big Slide Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
2017
Artist Talk, The Big Slide Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
2013
Don’t Go Back to Sleep, Supporting, Grand Arts, (Stanya Kahn, Director), Kansas City, MO
2011
Whoop Dee Doo’s Underwater Icy Freezing cold Watery Extravaganza!, Prop and Set Fabrication, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO
2010
Whoop Dee Doo In the Cave, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Prop & Set Fabrication, Omaha, NE
Whoop Dee Doo the Walnut Series!, WDD, Prop & Set Fabrication, Kansas City, MO
2009
Whoop Dee Doo, La Esquina, Prop and Set Fabrication, Kansas City, MO
2008
Whoop Dee Doo, Deitch Projects, Prop and Set Fabrication, New York, NY
Residencies
2021
Dear Artists Virtual Artist- In- Residence
2019
Finalist, Artpace San Antonio Artist- In- Residence Program, Artpace, San Antonio, TX
2008 - 2009
Charlotte Street Foundation: Urban Culture Project Studio Residency, Kansas City, MO
Publications & Text
Artnet, Editors’ Picks: 11 Events for Your Art Calendar This Week, From Open House New York to a Warhol-Themed Corn Maze, “Between Here and There” at Paradice Palase, New York, Oct.11, 2021
Houstonia Magazine, Editor’s Pick: Four BIPOC Artsits Based in Houston You Should Know, August 25, 2021
Travel + Leisure Magazine, Houston Might Be the Most Exciting City for Art in the United States- Here’s What to See, July 2021 Issue
Art Forum, TEXAS BIENNIAL ANNOUNCES ARTISTS, VENUES, May 21, 2021
Dear Artists Presents: Phases Book
Remezcla, 40 Emerging, Texas Based Artists to know, Barbara Calderón, December 2020
Almost Magazine, The Secret Issue, November 2020
Peachfuzz Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 2
Paper City Magazine, Dallas, May/ June 2020 Issue, Cover Artist
Paper City Magazine, Houston, May 2020 Issue, Cover Artist
Houstonia Magazine, March 2020 Issue
Peach Fuzz Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 2
Friend of the Artist, Volume 9
ArtMaze Magazine, Winter Issue 11
New American Paintings, No. 132, West Issue, Cover Artist
Review Magazine, Young Artists at Opie Gallery, June 2005, p. 63.
Media
Endgame, S1, NBCUniversal, Featured Artist
Harlem, S1 & S2, NBCUniversal, Featured Artist
For Life, S2, ABC Network, Featured Artist
Remezcla Open Estudios, “Jasmine Zelaya on going beyond gendering art”
Cultured Magazine, IGTV: “#WFH Jasmine Zelaya Studio Visit”
Studio Confessions Podcast, Episode #78: “Jasmine Zelaya: So Good”
I Like Your Work Podcast Interview, “Jasmine Zelaya-Setting Goals & Making It Happen: From Magazine Covers to BET+”, December 13, 2019.
First Wives Club, BET Network, BET+, Featured Artist
Fellowships & Grants
United States Artists Fellowship, nominated, 2021
Joan Mitchell Fellowship, nominated, 2021
Houston Region Affiliated Fellowship, nominated, 2021
Private Collections
Jonathan Van Ness
Scott & Judy Nyquist
Corporate Collections
Caydon
Google
Client List
ABC Network
BET Network
Caydon
CitizenM Hotels
Google
Live Nation Worldwide, Inc.
NBCUniversal
OMA NY
Rice University
Education
The Kansas City Art Institute, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting, 2006
Follow Me on Instagram: @z_e_l_a_y_a/
