Indira Cesarine "Metamorphosis (Bloom Within) II"

Indira Cesarine "Metamorphosis (Bloom Within) II" 2026

Painting, Oil on Canvas (Study)
Dimensions: 9 x 12in, Framed 10 x 13 x 1.25in                           
Unique
Signed on recto by artist, includes a certificate of authenticity 

Indira Cesarine is a multidisciplinary artist working across photography, video, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Her practice explores feminist narratives, identity, power, and autobiographical themes, informed by her Latinx heritage and women’s history. Blending traditional and new media, Cesarine examines contemporary culture through work that is both intimate and politically resonant.

A graduate of Columbia University with a triple major in Art History, French, and Women’s Studies, she has additionally studied at Parsons School of Design, School of Visual Arts (SVA), The New York Film Academy, The New York Academy of Art, as well as Brooklyn Glass and Urban Glass. Cesarine began exhibiting at a young age, presenting her first solo exhibition at sixteen, and has since shown her work internationally at museums, galleries, and art fairs.

Her work has been exhibited at institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hudson Valley MOCA, Mattatuck Museum, Albany Institute of History & Art, The Watermill Center, Annmarie Sculpture Garden in partnership with the Smithsonian, Agnes Varis Art Center, CICA Museum, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. She has also exhibited her artwork at Art Basel Miami Beach, SCOPE Art Show, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, the French Embassy Cultural Center with American Friends of The Louvre, Smack Mellon, A.I.R. Gallery, Canvas 3.0 at the World Trade Center, and the Every Woman Biennial (2022, 2024, 2026). She has participated in artist residencies, including Silver Art Projects (2021), Norwood Club (2020), and her ongoing residency at The Parlor NYC since 2020.

Cesarine’s work has been included in prominent benefit auctions such as “Take Home a Nude” at Phillips and Sotheby’s New York, ARTWALK NY supporting the Coalition for the Homeless, and the Gabrielle’s Angels Gala. Her public art projects include the “FUTURE VISION” billboard series presented by Save Art Space; “The Egg of Light,” exhibited at Rockefeller Center as part of the Fabergé Big Egg Hunt; and representing New York State for “HER FLAG,” a nationwide initiative commemorating the centennial of the 19th Amendment, exhibited at the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Clinton Memorial Library.

Her exhibitions and artwork have been featured in leading international publications, including The New York Times, Vogue, Forbes, Newsweek, W Magazine, Dazed, and Harper’s Bazaar.

In addition to her artistic practice, Cesarine is the founder of The Untitled Magazine, The Untitled Space, and Art4Equality. She lives and works in Tribeca, New York.

Artist Statement:

"My latest series of oil on canvas paintings, “Metamorphosis (Bloom Within),” is both a visual and personal exploration of transformation—a surreal awakening through paint, light, and emotion. The imagery speaks to cycles of loss and renewal, fragility and strength—reflecting not only universal themes of feminine identity but also my own journey of rediscovery.
The series emerged after several years of distance from painting. Following a period marked by personal loss, I found it difficult to return to the intimacy of the canvas. “Metamorphosis (Bloom Within)” marks the moment I found the courage to return. The series began with layering portraits I had photographed many years ago with blooming flowers. Something about that union between the human and the botanical sparked a shift. It felt like looking at my own face through the lens of transformation. I painted a number of studies, each with different color palettes, while exploring the concept. Each canvas became a mirror, and each layer of paint, a step closer to reconnecting with that part of me I had lost.
The motif of the flower has long been central to my practice, appearing in works such as “LABYRINTH” and “Lumière,” as well as in my body-painting and sculptural installations. Here, it is reimagined through a surreal and symbolic lens. I’ve always been drawn to the visual and symbolic language of flowers. “Metamorphosis (Bloom Within)” extends my exploration of surreal feminine archetypes, uniting symbolism with emotion.
The woman’s face becomes both landscape and language—a terrain where identity, memory, and desire converge. The blooms forming around the face are symbolically dissolving the boundaries between body and world, self and other, nature and artifice. This visual language draws from surrealist traditions while asserting a feminist perspective: one that presents womanhood not as an object of beauty, but as a dynamic, evolving force.
In creating this work, I realized the metamorphosis was not only visual—it was mine. “Metamorphosis (Bloom Within)” is a meditation on renewal. It is about rediscovering not only the medium of painting but the capacity to feel vulnerability through creation. In a time when much of my practice engages with collective narratives of feminism, social justice, and the politics of representation, this series is deeply personal. It is a reminder that transformation begins inward, and that the act of creating can be a healing force." - Indira Cesarine

Read more about her artwork and exhibitions on our website.