About the Exhibition
On View: February 4 - April 17, 2026
Reception: Sunday, March 1| 1 PM to 3 PM
Hotel Indigo | 24 West Franklin Street | Free & Open to the Public
Maryland Art Place, in partnership with Hotel Indigo Baltimore is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Maryland-based artist, Sierra Iola. The exhibition is on view at Hotel Indigo, located at 24 West Franklin St. from February 4 - March 26, 2026. A public reception will take place on Sunday, March 1 from 1 PM to 3 PM.
About the Artist:
Sierra Iola is an American visual artist whose multi-media painting uses dense bold graphics to explore ubiquitous systems of modernity. She creates layered work addressing car-centricity, and isolation examining its deleterious impact on mental health, the environment and social issues. Her systematic approach to art has assisted in the foundation of research that surrounds her painting practice.
Sierra earned her Bachelors in painting, drawing and printmaking from Towson University and plans to pursue a Master of Fine Art degree.
Please join us on Sunday, March 1 from 1 PM to 3 PM for a champagne reception at Hotel Indigo located at 24 West Franklin St.
02/04/2026 - 04/17/2026
About the Artist
Sierra Iola is an American visual artist whose multi-media painting uses dense bold graphics to explore ubiquitous systems of modernity. She creates layered work addressing car-centricity and isolation, examining its impact on mental health, the environment and social strife. In her younger years, her parents filed bankruptcy and lost their house during the housing market crash and shortly after she joined the military. These experiences combined with sociology, helped her begin seeing patterns and systemic policies at work in the world. Her love of science and science illustration informs her systematic approach to art and has assisted in the foundation of research that surrounds her painting practice. Sierra believes that paintings can ask questions about the status quo and create connections between multiple disparate experiences that help pose questions to viewers not typically considered. In 2020 she published a book that took her four years to complete, full of illustrations and biographies about notable and forgotten women and has worked with billion dollar organizations like the San Antonio International Airport.
Sierra earned her Bachelors in painting, drawing and printmaking from Towson University and plans to pursue a Master of Fine Art degree.
From the Artist
Using acrylic, spray paint, flashe and oil I explore low-relief sculptural elements to craft paintings that expound upon societal structures through “carchitecture.” My practice revolves around education and grasping at knowledge woven into the fabric of the everyday so deeply that it feels impossible to comprehend without drowning in the weight of what is to be learned.
My current work revolves around existing in a city that is built for cars, not for people- where instead of finding human connection and a rich sidewalk tapestry, our cities are overshadowed by suburban sprawl and the pursuit of individual gain. I investigate the abandonment of public transit and how our current planning model contributes to environmental degradation, social inequity and a pervasive sense of loneliness. I pose questions about suburbs being subsidized by city dwellers and the history of white supremacy and its connection to irresponsible land-use, hyper-consumption and expansionism.
Creating cells, pixels, boxes reminiscent of Peter Halley, my paintings use these replicating motifs stacked within one another to communicate isolation through infrastructure, city and social media alike, scrutinizing how they feed into the existing system and create positive feedback loops. I explore allowing colors to conflict to simulate worlds colliding and use semiotic references that pose questions about the foundation our modernity is based upon. I created a visual lexicon inspired by Philip Guston that utilized my affinity for illustration and looked to Eva Struble and Tala Madani, admiring the painterly focus and how their use of symbolic qualities do not rely on the representational elements alone to communicate critiques of power structures and environmental degradation.
Viewers are welcomed on a journey about what we experience as “normal,” our perceptions of knowledge and how we as individuals, and as a society, interact and impact the world and how we may move forward differently.
.jpg "MSAC")
.png "William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund")
.png "T Rowe Price")
