Ángela Leyva (b. Mexico City, 1987) is a Mexican artist whose work explores the tension between digital technology and painterly tradition. Her practice examines the fragmentation and mutation of identity, often using artificial intelligence as a generative tool before transforming these images through oil paint. Blurring the line between human and machine, memory and invention, Leyva creates spectral, emotionally charged portraits that exist in an uncanny space of becoming.
She has participated in numerous group exhibitions across Latin America and Europe, including shows in Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Spain, Italy, and Greece. In Mexico, her work has been featured in leading institutions such as Museo Rufino Tamayo, Museo de la Ciudad de México, and Museo de Arte Moderno. She has held six solo exhibitions, most recently Limo (2024) in London.
Currently based in Mexico City, Leyva continues to push the boundaries of portraiture, investigating the fluid and evolving nature of identity in an era of technological mediation.
Born in 1987 in Mexico City, Mexico. Lives and works in Mexico City.
Education
| Present | PhD in Visual Arts, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) |
| 2021 | Master’s Degree in Visual Arts, UNAM |
| 2010 | Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts, ENPEG “La Esmeralda” |
Solo Exhibitions
| 2024 | SPLIT Gallery, LIMO, London, UK |
| Tlaxcala 3, Burial / Unearthing, Mexico City, Mexico | |
| 2021 | La Nao Gallery, Black Bile Act I, Mexico City, Mexico |
| 2020 | Textraño Gallery, Textraño, Mexico City, Mexico |
| 2019 | Studio Marte 221, Dead Shell or The King's Disease, Mexico City, Mexico |
| 2018 | Galería Galería, Dark Humor, Mexico City, Mexico |
| 2012 | Museum of Modern Art, Otredario. Actions for Reinterpretation, Toluca, State of Mexico |
| 2011 | Higher School of Medicine, National Polytechnic Institute, The Sons of Flies, Mexico City, Mexico |
Group Exhibitions
| 2025 | Galerie Marguo, Chilangxs, Paris, France |
| 2024 | KÖNIG MEXICO CITY, Contrapunto, Mexico City, Mexico |
| CURRO, Wait for Reanimation, Guadalajara, Mexico | |
| Selva Project, PRISMAS, New York City, USA | |
| 10th International University Visual Art Biennial, Zona Maco México Arte Contemporáneo | |
| 2023 | General Expenses, No Refuge in a Starless Sky, Mexico City, Mexico |
| La Papelería, CROMA, Madrid, Spain | |
| Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair, | |
| 2022 | Regimen of Fire, Athens, Greece |
| 2021 | NL, Macrosalon, Monterrey, Mexico |
| Luis Gallery, Luis Office (Intro Mix), Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico | |
| Galería Galería, Because We Cannot Limit Ourselves to Live, Oaxaca, Mexico | |
| Studio CROMA, Monstrum Morbus, Mexico City, Mexico | |
| La Nao Gallery, Panorama, Mexico City, Mexico | |
| III National Self-Portrait Biennial, “Rubén Herrera” | |
| 2020 | Tamayo Museum, Other Worlds, Mexico City, Mexico |
| Karen Huber Gallery, Don’t Get Too Close to My Fantasy, Mexico City, Mexico | |
| El Consultorio, Casa Pixan Vol. 3, Mexico City, Mexico | |
| Climax: Between Sublime and Ecstasy, Mexico City, Mexico | |
| Mexico City Museum, 50 Works, 50 Women, 50 Years, Mexico City, Mexico | |
| José Atanasio Monroy Painting Biennial, 20th Anniversary | |
| 2019 | Museum of Modern Art, The Cause of the Causes, Mexico City, Mexico |
| FAMA 2nd Edition, Monterrey, Mexico | |
| Casa Baltazar, Transit Free, Veracruz, Mexico | |
| El Consultorio, Light + Dark Drives, Mexico City, Mexico | |
| Look Who’s Talking Now, Los Angeles, California, USA | |
| 12th Puebla de los Ángeles Biennial, | |
| 5th National Biennial Julio Castillo, |
Residencies
USSR, Mexico City, Mexico
Cobertizo MX, Jilotepec, State of Mexico
