Blue Hues presents a five-year exploration of South Central-based artist Uber Lopez
Enamorado. His artistic practice was initially informed by early childhood trips to the Getty Museum, where he was surrounded by the masterworks of Caravaggio, Goya, and Rembrandt. There, the artist understood the importance of portraiture painting and how it created power for both the sitter and the important stories of the people during that time. Since the unexpected loss of his brother in 2019, Uber has devoted himself to producing a series of works sourced from family archives that characterize his sibling's influence on his work. His connection to the archive of photographs and his canvas highlights the push and pull of fragmented memory and the present moment. Throughout this series, Lopez Enamorado seeks images containing dynamic compositions, obscure qualities, and facial expressions that provoke conversation and offer a window into the artist's upbringing. He draws influence from western iconography and colors, such as the spectrum of blue, which holds significance in many cultures for its strenuous development process and deeper connotations when brought into the artist's hand. For Uber, blue functions as an entendre, containing deeper connotations relating to territorial divides and the untold narratives of specific South Central upbringings. Adopted techniques from Rembrandt's early self-portraits, such as the blue overcast, can be found in many of Uber's figurative works, where they symbolize grief and survivor's guilt. His process incorporates various layers of acrylic washes, established placement of control, and loose gestural mark-making. This is followed by soft blends using an airbrush gun and spray cans, nodding back to the pillars and engagements outside traditional art spaces. As he finalizes the work in oil, Uber strategically preserves the raw qualities of his beginning stages to develop a push-and-pull effect, creating tension between reality and illusion. He carves out a new space that invites memories and the reminiscence of life within the canvas.
Diego Vázquez (b. 1993) Monterrey, N.L. Mexico. Self-taught painter based in Mexico City. His work focuses on painting, using airbrush as his main tool, and utilizing various surfaces as his canvas.
Diego’s inspiration comes from the streets of the city. He enjoys walking through the city that inspires his work, observing murals, religious iconography, advertising found on every corner filled with popular elements and cartoons, as well as all the people who inhabit these spaces.
The title of his show “Perdiendo La Fe,” which translates to “Losing Faith,” reflects the daily life of Mexican people, always hopeful despite adversity, seeking help and finding solace in something greater than ourselves. Providing comfort and motivation to continue during difficult times.
“Losing faith” refers to when we think everything is wrong and nothing has a solution, so we go to our temple, take our scapular and pray or walk to the altar at the corner in search of hope.
Diego Vázquez es un pintor autodidacta que trabaja en la Ciudad de México. Su trabajo está enfocado en la pintura, utilizando el aerógrafo como herramienta principal, usando como lienzo todo tipo de superficies
La inspiración de Diego proviene de las calles de la ciudad. Le gusta caminar por la ciudad que inspira su trabajo, observando los murales, la iconografía religiosa, la publicidad que se encuentra en todas las esquinas llena de elementos populares y dibujos animados, así como todas las personas que habitan estos espacios
El título de su programa “Perdiendo La Fe”, que se traduce como “Perdiendo la fe”, es un reflejo de la vida cotidiana de las personas mexicanas, siempre llenas de esperanza a pesar de las adversidades , buscando ayuda y encontrando la calma en algo superior a nosotros. Brindándonos el consuelo y la
Motivación para seguir adelante en los momentos difíciles.
Perdiendo la fe hace referencia a cuando pensamos que todo está mal y nada tiene solución, entonces acudimos a nuestro templo, tomamos nuestro escapulario y rezamos o caminamos al altar que se encuentra en la esquina en busca de esperanza.
Bottom of a Pile by Darren Romanelli and Friends. Featuring Zoot Suit, Ragdigz and C. R. Stecyk III.
Marianela Castro (b. 1996, Mexico City) is a multidisciplinary artist who graduated from the National School of Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving (ENPEG) “La Esmeralda” in 2020 with a degree in Fine Arts. Her work integrates two-dimensional and sculptural mediums, blending analog and digital processes to explore the latent potential within everyday moments of waiting. Focusing on human adaptation and our place in the universe, Castro’s art challenges the notion of history as a relentless creator of ruins. Her exhibitions present her work as a contemplative statement, inviting viewers to pause and transform memory into creative action, overcoming sensations of
defeat to embrace new beginnings.
Marianela Castro (1996) es una artista multidisciplinaria de la Ciudad de México, graduada en artes plásticas y visuales de la Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado (ENPEG) “La Esmeralda” en 2020. Su trabajo combina medios bidimensionales y escultóricos, fusionando procesos analógicos y digitales para explorar el potencial en estado de espera en la vida cotidiana. Su enfoque artístico busca comprender la adaptación humana y nuestra posición en el universo, desafiando la idea de la historia como un generador constante de ruinas. Su obra se presenta como un enunciado en el espacio de exhibición, invitando a una pausa dentro de la pausa, donde el recuerdo se convierte en acción creativa y se supera la sensación de derrota
para volver a empezar.
OAXAKALIFORNIA,” presented by Johndoe Gallery at Yope Projects, offers an exploration of the relationship between artists in Los Angeles and Oaxaca. Initially,John Doe Gallery in Los Angeles hosted Yope Projects from Oaxaca. Now, Los Angeles-based artists will exhibit their work in Oaxaca at Yope projects space. This collaboration offers an exploration of the dialogue between artists from both regions. In a world where borders signify division, “OAXAKALIFORNIA” transcends physical and linguistic barriers, inviting viewers to experience an interchange of lived experiences in the physical, the linguistic, and connections to the style and origins that extend beyond geographical confines. Through media such as film, television, and music, the exhibition serves as a platform for shared inspirations to converge, fostering a deeper understanding and forging connections between the respective art communities. “OAXAKALIFORNIA” celebrates the power of unity and friendship, encouraging audiences to embrace the cultural exchange and collaboration.
Yope Projects, a collective of six artists from Oaxaca, operates as a dynamic physical/virtual platform dedicated to promoting, producing, and showcasing contemporary art in Oaxaca de Juárez. Established in mid-2017, the collective, comprising Gibran Mendoza, Andy Medina, Jou Morales, David Zafra, Vidal Martínez, and Kasser Sánchez, draws inspiration from the internet, television, and music of the 90s and 2000s era. While leveraging social media to exhibit their art globally, they choose to remain rooted in Oaxaca, eschewing migration to larger cities.
In Oaxaca, "Yope" carries both derogatory and resilient connotations, depicting individuals as darker-skinned and ill-mannered yet resilient and hardworking. Their reclamation of the word Yope operates as a form of empowerment. Acknowledging the dark past of its initial intentions into using it as a form of resilience and growth.
This millennial art collective epitomizes a vibrant fusion of tradition and innovation, seamlessly blending childhood memories and pop culture imagery with contemporary artistic expression. Embracing technology, they draw inspiration from arcade games and Japanese culture and cars, employing DIY experimentation and envisioning a future where technology and tradition coalesce. Their artwork, informed by Oaxacan rituals and the Zapotec language, fosters community engagement through workshops while sourcing materials locally to add cultural depth and identity.
With 3D scans transformed into paintings, they explore the transformative journey of creation and the intrinsic value of dirt, generating culturally rich imagery through appropriation and experimentation. As they carve out a unique space in the Mexican and global contemporary art world, Yope Projects emerges as a beacon of post-internet creativity.
“The Meaning Is The End” a solo exhibition by Jaime Muñoz. In this exhibition Muñoz explores the continuation of a series of diagram drawings, reminiscent of automotive repair manuals, to delve into concepts surrounding commodity, and consumerism. Within these works, Muñoz navigates concepts surrounding the intertwining of belief systems, such as religion and capitalism, and critique how they are used interchangeably, with historical parallels drawn between the church's role in commodifying the spirit and the capitalist structure role in commodifying the body. Muñoz examines the backfiring effects of Modernity, highlighting the current conditions of the world.
The exhibition surrounds itself around the formal and conceptual parallelisms in Wolfryd and Lorusso’s practices. Both artists employ the metaphor of the mirror and reflection to delve into intricate themes within their respective practices. Lorusso utilizes this idea both as a physical object and a symbolic surface. In parallel, Wolfryd integrates it as a metaphor within the broader
Michele Lorusso (Puerto Vallarta, México, 1994) is a visual artist who uses primarily poetry, installation, performance and sculpture to explore, both materially and discursively, the mirror and its reflection as a surface for inscription of the symbolic. With an interest in illusion, the passage of time, duality, fragmented identity and relational aesthetics, her artistic practice is characterized by working with the poetic and cathartic potential of spoken language and writing in collective contexts of self-reflection and confrontation. Affective where the agency of the public is key.
Marek Wolfryd (Mexico City, 1989) is a multidisciplinary artist that explores the intersection of artistic and economic narratives in the context of culture, history, and society. Through a wide range of media, such as process art, readymades, sculpture, installations, video, and performance, Wolfryd reviews cultural movements and their aesthetic discourses, generally delving into micro-historical phenomena surrounding these great chronicles. Through long-term research projects, Wolfryd builds a conceptual framework that exposes the complexity of certain narratives that exist both within and outside the spheres of symbolic influence of the Western world. His works reflect and explore the means of mass production, consumer culture, copyright, authorship, and the mechanisms of art creation and distribution.
