Born in Mexico City, Aliza Nisenbaum is an artist for the people. His luminous paintings tell of the everyday intimacy of their subjects, reinventing the large-scale portrait not as a rare commodity for the rich and powerful, but as a tool for the preservation of memory. Heavily influenced by the work of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, Nisenbaum portrays Central American immigrants, essential workers, and members of the wider community of Corona, Queens, with whom she has volunteered and taught since her involvement with Queens. Museum and Creative Time’s Immigrant Movement International. initiative in 2012. Now she teaches a bilingual Spanish-English painting workshop to leaders of the La Jornada and Queens Museum Cultural Food Pantry, whose student work hangs alongside her solo exhibition at the museum, Queens, Lindo and Querido (“Queens, beautiful and beloved”). The show coincides with a commission from the Queens Museum and Delta Air Lines for a new terminal at LaGuardia Airport; the resulting mosaic will be installed there next year.
by Aliza Nisenbaum El Taller, Queens Museum (2023) © Aliza Nisenbaum; courtesy of the artist and Anton Kern Gallery, New York; Photographer: Thomas Barratt
The Art Newspaper: What was your process for the LaGuardia commission?
Aliza Nisenbaum: It’s called Those who make it work. I picked 16 people who could represent all the work it takes to run an airport. Two of them were pilots – we searched everywhere to find a female pilot and an African American pilot – and then all these different people who are, as they’re called at the airport, workers under and above from the wing, like David, who was a firefighter on September 11, 2001 and is now in charge of putting out fires at JFK airport and LaGuardia. As with all my compositions, none [the sitters] were in the same space at the same time, but I held many Zoom chats with each of them to get a sense of their character and personality, what they would be wearing, what kind of gear they would wear.
How does your time teaching and your investment in the Corona community influence your paintings?
I get to know people over a very long period of time. The background scenes are fleshing out the personalities of the people, but also the networks that I see in terms of their relationships. I also paint their material culture. This family that I have painted over the past ten years, I have chronicled my relationship with them for so long. I visit their homes and get to know the things and trades they live with, which recall their history. The compositions and environment of the painting – the formal elements – are the result of spending time with people over a very long period of time.
An installation view of the exhibition Aliza Nisenbaum: Queens, Lindo and Querido at the Queens Museum, New York Photo: Thomas Barratt; courtesy of the Queens Museum
Do you consider the paintings to be collaborative?
Yes definitely. It’s a bit intuitive. With the airport commission, there are three different flight attendants in front. I got to know their characters and what poses were most suited to each of their personalities and friendships. I’ve been to their place a couple of times and they’ve chosen the clothes that they’ll wear, so not only are they collaborating in terms of the choices we make to stage a particular composition, but also in terms of the energy that I get from people .
The way you use color is so amazing; the paintings really shine. Do you do a wash of one color and paint over it, or do you use a neon underpaint?
It’s funny because there’s so much storytelling in my work, but the color is what excites me the most. That’s what makes people want to dive into these stories when there’s an aesthetic element that strikes you on a guttural level. No, I don’t apply color washes because, like Alex Katz, I’m very picky about the type of surface I paint on. It’s very important to have that bright white base so that each distinct color I use can be as vibrant as possible. I do “passage painting”, where there are colors side by side and some areas can remain blank for a very long time. Sometimes it’s hard to see the big picture because I start locally and then jump, but it all comes together at the end. I like that the white of the canvas is almost like a light source for each color. For every little room, I’ll have like a huge glass palette with literally 40 colors mixed into something. If you zoom in on any of my faces there will be an insane amount of color. It’s quite laborious, but it keeps my interest.
• Aliza Nisenbaum: Queens, Lindo and Querido, until September 10, Queens Museum
