Kevin Umaña: Moonglow Metanoia

Kevin Umaña (b. 1989) grew up in El Salvador and Los Angeles. He earned his BFA from San Francisco State University in 2014 and now lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Initially focused on geometric painting, his practice has expanded to ceramics. His recent “hybrid paintings”—glazed ceramics on painted canvas—explore the history of the Pipil people, Indigenous to western and central El Salvador, where his family originates. These works blend conflicting styles: biomorphic and geometric, matte and sheen, order and mess. They evoke childhood memories—landscapes, beaches, plants, building materials, food, and religion.