Salomon Huerta
dal 4/12/2001 al 2/2/2002
Segnalato da
4/12/2001
Salomon Huerta
Gagosian Gallery, London
An exhibition of paintings by Latin American artist Salomon Huerta. The exhibition is comprised of paintings from the Heads, Figures and Houses series. Huerta’s Heads and Figures represent a departure from traditional forms of portraiture. Rather than encountering the subject straight on, the viewer is confronted with the back of his head as if waiting in a queue or sitting in a theatre. By depriving the viewer a glimpse into the subjects’ eyes, Huerta denies an emotional connection between artist and model, viewer and subject.
"I’m focusing visually, rather than emotionally. I wanted to
create images that were not typical of Latino images
because I didn’t want to get ghettoized."
Salomón Huerta
Gagosian Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of paintings by
Latin American artist Salomón Huerta.
Born 1965 in Tijuana, Mexico,
Huerta has lived in Los Angeles since the age of 4. After completing a
B.F.A. in Illustration at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Huerta
attended the University of California, Los Angeles for an M.F.A. where he
found a mentor in Lari Pittman. Inclusion in the 2000 Whitney Biennial
gained Huerta international acclaim.
The exhibition is comprised of paintings from the Heads, Figures and
Houses series.
Huerta’s Heads and Figures represent a departure from
traditional forms of portraiture.
Rather than encountering the subject
straight on, the viewer is confronted with the back of his head as if
waiting in a queue or sitting in a theatre.
By depriving the viewer a
glimpse into the subjects’ eyes, Huerta denies an emotional connection
between artist and model, viewer and subject.
Nor does the viewer learn
anything of the subject’s identity, save for vague indications of race as
suggested by the skin tones on a closely shaven head or neck.
Huerta
employs a monochrome ground of richly saturated colour influenced, in
part, by his Latino upbringing, as well as his love for glossy magazine
design.
The meticulous rendering of the work, however, has much in
common with traditional portraiture and it is no surprise that Huerta’s
portraits look to those of Caravaggio and Bellini for inspiration.
The Houses, like the Heads and Figures, offers little information.
Painted from snapshots taken on drives through South Central L.A., the
suburban homes are stripped bare of all traces of life - toys, tricycles,
religious statues, etc - and are painted in a pristine pastel palette.
They
are transformed from neglected tract housing into icons of the American
dream.
Huerta has exhibited throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe,
including: the Austin Museum of Art, Texas; ACME, Los Angeles; Patricia
Faure Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; Studio La Città , Verona, Italy; Akademie
der Bildenden Künste, Munich, Germany; and Museo de la Ciudad de
Mèxico. This is Huerta’s first exhibition in England.
Image: SALOMÓN HUERTA Untitled Head (#4), 2001 Oil on canvas on panel, 12 x
11-3/4 inches
Reception: Thursday, 5 December, 6 - 8 pm
opening hours: TUES-SAT 10-18
Gagosian Gallery
LONDON
8 HEDDON STREET
LONDON W1B 4BU
TEL 44 020 7292 8222
FAX 44 020 7292 2220