Loading ...

Born to a small town in upstate New York, Uribes showed not only an interest, but a gift for art at an early age.

“We moved a lot during my childhood and mostly lived in rural, small town America. Luckily, my parents finally stayed in one place when I entered middle school. This settling process allowed my creative talents to flourish. The rural landscape created an isolation that pushed me to concentrate on my artistic practice. Despite the striking, naturalistic surroundings we lived in, my interest centered on the human form. It was only later that I included the organic in my work.”

Although she took every available art class at the local college in her small town, Uribes’ first taste of art school really began on arrival in Los Angeles. She attended what is now the Otis College of Art and Design for two years. It was during this period that she completed her self-directed Native American History Project consisting of research, writing, 5 large scale paintings, 8 smaller works and 22 drawings. The project’s primary focus was on Native American cultures in the years just prior to and directly after the first arrival of European settlers. 

Uribes also worked as a graphic artist during this time. This experience honed her design and illustration skills. Eventually, she moved to the San Francisco Bay area, completing her BFA at the San Francisco Art Institute. It was here that Uribes became involved with abstraction. Creating large tableaus of unusual shapes that make reference to the figure, Uribes’ lyrical compositions flow across the surface like a mass of garden tangles.

Over the course of her thirty years plus of art making, working predominantly in acrylic paint on canvas, Uribes’ work has evolved in many directions. Yet, the one constant has been her involvement with the figure. Even in segments of work where no recognizable body is present, the organic shapes within each composition speak of the figure.

During her undergraduate work at SFAI, a series of characters started to repeatedly appear in Uribes’ paintings.  Each painting was linked to the previous piece. A mystery was unfolding. In the past few years she has reconnected with this series of paintings she began at SFAI. The series of characters that reappeared in several paintings now developed new meaning.  Each of these paintings presented a mystery for the viewer to decipher. The final story then told more about the viewer than the work itself.  Done in a Baroque style coupled with Surrealistic imagery, these paintings ask questions but do not provide answers. The series is entitled Psycho-Baroque.

After the completion – she says, for now – of her Psycho-Baroque series, the natural outgrowth for Uribes was to explore Celtic myth, her favorite being the Green Man. This body of work allows Uribes to create the perfect match for her, the combination of the human form with the organic. This series of pieces has been the most popular for Uribes to date. Many patrons have even requested portraits so that they may be portrayed as the Green Man or Green Woman. Working with organic images in combination with the figure, these pieces remind us of our organic connection to the earth. This body of work maintains its interest for Uribes as she continues her fascination with the Green man.

Currently, Uribes is moving in another new direction, creating small, abstract, highly textural pieces. Her inspiration for this work often comes from lumber yards, home improvement stores and old buildings where interesting materials and textures provide her with inspiration.