Paraguayan realist Graciela Mena originally achieved international recognition for her work in porcelain. Today, she is focused on photo-realistic oil on canvas paintings that celebrate Paraguayan textile handicrafts. Her work is a tribute to the indigenous people who inhabited Paraguay when Europeans first arrived and the traditional artesian techniques that have been passed down, generation to generation, for hundreds of years.

While her paintings are composed like traditional still lifes, tropical fruit and vegetables displayed atop a gorgeous tablecloth, the focus is really the fabric that Mena herself has created by hand for years. The subjects sitting atop the fabrics are always slightly less detailed than the textiles they adorn, subtly, but immediately, drawing the viewer's eye to the details and texture of the fabric in each painting.

Mena lives, paints and teaches art in Asuncion, Paraguay. She has been exhibiting her work internationally for more than 20 years.

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