Isabella Mellado: Contemporary Poetics and Mysticism

Isabella Mellado (San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1996) is a painter and educator based in Chicago, known for her magical realist paintings that delve into Latinidad, queer identity, tarot, and esoteric spirituality. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA ‘18) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA ‘23), she has exhibited in major art fairs and museums across the U.S., Mexico, and Puerto Rico, emerging as one of the most authentic voices of her generation.

Visual Poetics Between Symbol and Intimacy

Mellado’s work is built on a visual language where religious references, folk narratives, and esoteric symbols coexist. Her 2024 series Te diré quién eres, shown at Povos Gallery in Chicago, is a clear example of how she reinterprets traditional iconography through a contemporary lens. Using paintings and photographs that function like visual amulets, Mellado explores identity through a Latinx and queer gaze, reconfiguring emblematic figures such as saints, gargoyles, and mythological creatures to engage themes of faith, guilt, and personal affirmation.

In works like Four of Swords (St. Sebastian), the artist portrays the body as a site of spiritual resistance—a charged emotional space that invites viewers to find themselves within vulnerability, mysticism, and introspection. Her pieces evoke an intimate gaze, fostering a silent dialogue with the observer.

Tarot Imagery and Collective Memory

At the 2025 edition of Material Art Fair (Mexico City), Mellado unveiled one of her most ambitious works to date: Baile para el Señor de los Muertos. This large-scale triptych, accompanied by a durational performance, used tarot as a point of departure, reimagined through a symbolic and narrative lens. Major arcana cards—like The Wheel of Fortune or Eight of Swords—were not simply spiritual symbols but became vessels for intense emotions, transformative moments, and states of uncertainty.

For Mellado, tarot becomes a plastic and narrative tool to speak about diaspora, identity reconstruction, and collective memory. She uses esoteric imagery as a narrative framework that merges the autobiographical with the historical. Her visual universe is dense with symbols, blending personal stories with collective experience.

Trajectory and Training as a Core Practice

Since her 2023 exhibition Desde el Charco (Lisbon and Miami), Mellado has foregrounded her identity as part of the Puerto Rican diaspora. This perspective appears not only in her thematic concerns but also in her articulation of nostalgia, belonging, and the search for new cultural references. Her work has been exhibited at institutions and galleries including the Bronx Museum, Kavi Gupta Gallery (Chicago), and Walter Otero Contemporary Art (San Juan), affirming her growing international presence.

Parallel to her studio practice, Mellado is deeply committed to education. She has been a fellow at the Teacher Institute at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and served as a teaching fellow at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she also completed her MFA. Her role as an educator strengthens her vision of an artistic practice rooted in critical thinking, community engagement, and the nurturing of emerging creative voices.

Visual Rituals and Expanded Spirituality

One of the most distinctive aspects of Mellado’s work is her deep interest in the esoteric and her ability to translate it into a personal visual language. Far from merely replicating religious codes, she creates symbolic spaces where tarot, astrology, and mythology serve as tools for open-ended inquiry. Her artworks form a territory where ritual becomes an aesthetic and emotional experience.

In projects like Realismo Mágico (San Juan, 2023), Mellado revisits colonial historical references to propose a contemporary, critical reading. The spirituality that emerges in her work is flexible and compassionate, offering viewers a symbolic space where they can inhabit their contradictions, beliefs, and desires.

Perspective and Future

At just 27, Isabella Mellado is building a coherent and symbolically potent body of work. Her visual inquiry into identity, spirituality, and community is present in every piece—from oil paintings to performative installations—underscoring her commitment to creating images that expand both intimate and collective memory.

Her presence in Chicago, combined with an active schedule across Latin America and the U.S., positions her as a vital voice in contemporary art, particularly within transnational and dissident contexts.