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Iria Prieto Leon was born in Spain and raised in Puerto Rico. Being interested in the arts from an early age, Iria was a member of the San Juan Art League by the age of 7, where she studied painting, drawing and ceramics. At the same time, she was part of the San Juan Ballet company and the Music Conservatory of Puerto Rico where she studied Cello. At the age of 12 Iria was accepted to the prestigious art high school, The Central School of Visual Arts of Puerto Rico, where she graduated as part of the painting and drawing department in 2004. Iria started her college education in Puerto Rico and quickly realized that painting and life are two sources that feed one another, so she decided to move to Paris to challenge her own perspective. She studied for one year at Parsons Paris where her contact with artist Ian Patterson made her aware of the hidden poet behind the painter. After the year in Paris she decided to go to the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore where she graduated as part of the Painting Department in 2009. During her years in MICA she was accepted in the study abroad honors program: Studio Art International Center (SACI) in Florence, Italy. There she got involved in screen printing in the printshop of printer: Kathy Knippel. The time at MICA helped her shape her own language and understand that one's work as an artist has to come from a sincere place. Her pieces would evolve by themselves, planning just enough to start painting. As in life, she approaches her work with the thought that nothing is eternal. This open way allows her to have complete freedom to put or take away as the piece needs. Daring to do is the key, it makes a certain dance in her pieces that relates directly to the history of the mark, not dignifying anything, a total license to move and acknowledge the physical qualities of paint, what paint can do. Her paintings are explorations of application, introspective growth and anxiety towards death, amongst other things. One of Iria's main interests is traveling and the idea of having a path that unfolds as you go along.