It's not unusual to find a 26-year-old who cites Andy Warhol as an inspiration or who thinks she can emulate Jackson Pollock. But, it's a rare thing to meet a young woman whose mixed media, Warhol-inspired pop art speaks of revolution in Spain, war crimes in Iraq, and human perishability, whose Pollock-inspired paintings give you chills. I recently caught up with the young São Paulo-born, Brazil-and-California-raised artist Daniela Cunha Lay at the opening of her exhibit at one of my favorite design stores in San Francisco, Flipp. With little background on her work, I asked what medium she used. "Mixed media, of course," she said, speaking a mile a minute, "Nothing that I do is simple." After a tour around the exhibit, it was apparent that she couldn't have related herself or her work more succinctly.

To create "Divine," a mixed media collage of sorts, she took a 1928 photograph of her quite glamorous grandmother on the day of her wedding, and photocopied it on several different machines to achieve varying tonalities. Then, she "cop[ied] the copy of the copy, so as to crumble down the image, driving it as far away from its original print as possible," further establishing the obvious passage of time, and tore some to suggest that, "we and everything around us is inevitably perishable."

Lay's work speaks for itself, so hear more and check out some images of her work when you read more.

Standing on a 2-meter ladder, she painted "Rust," a splatter painting of a deformed, human-like figure amidst a crimson background, by throwing acrylic paint across a stretched canvas on the floor. I simultaneously felt violently haunted and calm viewing this piece, proving that her efforts to evoke "solitude, stillness, and inner piece in the midst of a violently chaotic world," succeeded.

Be sure to explore Daniela Cunha Lay's website to see more of her portfolio of paintings, photographs, conceptual videos, and graphic art, as well as several artist statements. And, if you live in the Bay Area, stop by the reception for her exhibit at the Diego Riviera Gallery tonight from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.