ACCUMULATIONS | ESPERANZA MAYOBRE + GONZALO FUENMAYOR
Opening 25 June, 5-7 pm
on view through 22 August 2011
artists on artists visit+discussion led by Andrea Cote, 23 July, 4:30 pm
Click here to view the exhibition
Catch a glimpse on Blinnk
Also featured on KCLOGblog
Related work by Esperanza Mayobre was recently reviewed in Issue #135 of Arte al Dia International
For interesting information about the banana, a prominent motif in Gonzalo Fuenmayor’s work, visit Dan Koeppel’s Banana Book
SOLAR is delighted to present the work of two visually distinct artists that share conceptual approaches: Esperanza Mayobre (born in Venezuela, lives in New York) and Gonzalo Fuenmayor (born in Colombia, lives in Miami) present very individual proposals, the first through a selection of drawing, collage, and sculpture, the latter in charcoal and pastel on paper.
Accumulations aims to reveal underlying parallels in what appear to be polar expressions. Mayobre’s recent works consist in laser drawings and sculpture that are crisp, linear, and minimalist. She references architectural or machine structures as complex grids or collapsing frameworks, or at times as compilations of industrial components. In his current Splendor series done in charcoal or pastel, Fuenmayor represents dramatic, representational, morphing images that are hybrids of Victorian elements, such as chandeliers and intricately carved furniture elements, often combined with a repeated banana motif. Each through his/her own discrete ‘accumulations’ transmits a sense of fragmentation, decadence, and obfuscation. Tragedy is a common theme.
Fuenmayor states, “Different strategies are employed in my creative process in order to subordinate the contradictory into a delicate and imaginative order. The approaches may vary, but the banana fruit as well as Victorian ornamentation remain vital in my recent creative process”. Through his exploration of ornamentation, he attempts to uncover “its complicit and amnesic nature…and its relationship with tragedy”. Mayobre, in a similar vein, “explores cultural/social hierarchies and the tragedy/triumph of the human condition. She selects the media and materials used on each piece in accordance to the idea that she is working with”. Issues of identity, cultural specificity, history, politics, and society are paramount to both their works.
Esperanza Mayobre was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. She studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2003) and Cabinetmaking at El Instituto Artesanal de la Colonia Tovar (IACT), Caracas (2009). She has exhibited internationally and nationally including exhibitions at Los Galpones: Fernando Zubillaga; Museo de Arte de El Salvador, Salón CANTV Jóvenes con FIA, Caracas; Smack Mellon; Jersey City Museum; Bronx Museum; MIT CAVS; and Boston Museum of Fine Arts. She has participated in numerous residency programs including the LMCC WorkSpace Residency (2008-09), Skowhegan (2005), the AIM Program at the Bronx Museum (2005) and was part of the Skowhegan Talk Lectures Series at Artist Space (2008) and Proyecto TAGA Colección Mercantil (2008). Her work has been reviewed in BOMB, The New York Times, Artnet, El Nacional, Arte al Dia, and Artforum. Recently she was part of an exhibition at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, EFA, NY, and she is a current resident of Smack Mellon Artist Studio Program in Brooklyn (2011-12).
Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, Gonzalo Fuenmayor also graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, with an MFA (2004) and previously completed a BFA at the School of Visual Arts, New York (2000). He has exhibited in the United States and South America, including solo and group shows in Miami, New York, Boston, Long Beach, CA, Albuquerque, NM, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, and the Netherlands. He has participated in residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and Art-Omi (Ghent, NY) and his work has been reviewed and published in New American Paintings, Southern Edition; Arte al Dia, Revista Mundo, El Nuevo Herald, The Boston Globe, The East Hampton/Southampton Press, and The East Hampton Star. Both artists have participated previously in group shows at SOLAR, Mayobre in the well-received and highly reviewed What Can Brown Do for You? exhibition in 2008, and Fuenmayor in the also acclaimed show Brave New World, in 2007.