Ya Mero (Almost There)
Featuring works by artist in residence Karla Diaz curated by Mia Lopez. RSVP for the exhibition opening on January 30 or visit the 20 Cooper Square 3rd Floor Gallery through May 15 (Tuesday-Friday, 11am-5pm).
Ya Mero (Almost There) is a declaration of imminent arrival. Los Angeles-based artist Karla Diaz has made work about her life for over twenty years. Through painting, drawing, and performance, she documents life’s tragedies and triumphs, calling upon her own lived experiences and the stories of friends, family, and community. Her works evoke a sense of dream-like recollection, giving form to ephemeral emotions and remembrance.
In-betweenness can be understood as both a state of being and a conceptual place. For those who navigate multiple cultures, groups, or identities, feeling a sense of belonging in any one place can often seem impossible. And yet, the possibility of passage and movement is always on the horizon. Hybridity and shapeshifting are second nature to anyone inhabiting liminal space. Diaz not only embodies this through her own lived experiences but endeavors to illustrate the intangible borders of this third space or temporal realm. Her works recall the hazy moments shortly before opening your eyes- a memory just out of reach.
Diaz uses vibrant washes of color in portraits and scenes layered with meaning. Her subjects shift from her family to herself or imaginary strangers, rendering all with simplified forms obscured through semi-transparent tones. The veils of color serve as proxies for emotion, suggesting the feelings and desires that may tint our own worldview. The artist has struggled with insomnia and grief, experiences well-known to many. And yet, the notion of “I’m almost there” is inherently optimistic, forecasting the protagonist’s appearance at an unknown destination. With anticipation, we await.
- Mia Lopez
Diaz, Karla. Black Panther and Mom's Tablecloth, 2023. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Marvella Muro Collection, Los Angeles.
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About the Artist in Residence
Photo: Aydinaneth Ortiz
Karla Diaz is a writer, teacher, and multidisciplinary artist who engages in painting, installation, video, and performance. Using narrative to question identity, institutional power, and explore memory, her socially engaged practice generates exciting collaborations and provokes important dialogue among diverse communities. Notably, she is the co-founder of the collective and community artist space Slanguage. Critical discourse is central to her practice as she explores social, subcultural, and marginalized stories.
As a stroke survivor, she practices repetitive memory exercises, using drawing as a tool for excavating and retaining information. Personal memories, folklore, familiar iconography of her Mexican heritage, and American pop culture are intertwined in surreal compositions that consider family, loss, and the complexities of the Latinx experience in the United States.
Diaz was born and lives in Los Angeles, CA. She received an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2003 and a BA from California State University Los Angeles in 1999. Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, CA; SF MOMA, San Francisco, CA; Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL; Serpentine Galleries, London, U.K.; and Museo Casa de Cervantes, Valladolid, Spain. She has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards from Art Matters, NY, Tiffany Foundation, NY, Riverside Art Museum, CA; and CalArts, CA. Her work is included in the collections of the Perez Art Museum Miami, Miami, F:; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA; and Inhotim Museum, Brumadinho, Brazil, among others.
About the Curator
Mia Lopez is the inaugural Curator of Latinx Art at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas. She has worked with artists and leading contemporary art institutions across the United States for over 15 years. She recently curated the exhibition Rasquachsimo: 35 Years of a Chicano Sensibility and co-curated the exhibition Synthesis & Subversion: Redux at Ruby City. Lopez has previously held curatorial positions at DePaul Art Museum in Chicago and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Exhibitions and publications she has contributed to include Remember Where You Are, LatinXAmerican, and International Pop. Lopez is an alumnus of the Smithsonian Latino Museum Studies Program and the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Leadership Institute. She holds a BA in Art History from Rice University and dual MAs in Art History and Arts Administration from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Visit the Exhibition
20 Cooper Square Gallery, 3rd floor
January 30 - May 15, 2026
Tuesday - Friday, 11 am - 5 pm
The exhibition is free and open to the public with RSVP. Non-NYU guests can click here to schedule their visit.
Group and class visits: Please email latinxproject@nyu.edu to schedule a group visit or tour.
Accessibility note: Non-NYU guests may be asked to present a government-issued ID for access to the third floor. The third floor gallery is accessible via elevator. All gender restrooms are available.
Questions? Please email latinxproject@nyu.edu.
Supporters
Ya Mero (Almost There) is made possible with support from Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation.