Press Release - "Cielo's Gate #42" by Isaac Vazquez Avila
Isaac Vazquez Avila
”Éxitos”
Acrylic on wood panel
14 x 18 Inches
Framed
2021
pt. 2:
Cielo’s Gate #42
Isaac Vazquez Avila
Opening - March 13, 2021
Showing Through - Friday, April 2, 2021
Schedule a private viewing
info@part2gallery.com
pt. 2 Gallery is pleased to present Cielo’s Gate #42, a solo exhibition of paintings and sculptures by the San Francisco-based artist Isaac Vazquez Avila. For his first exhibition with the gallery, Avila will present new paintings and sculptures that commemorate people, places, objects, and times in his life - both real and imagined. Shifting between painting and sculpture, Avila’s work displays moments of both spontaneous gesture and meticulous control.
The works in Cielo’s Gate #42 display the contrast in method between Avila’s sculptures and paintings. Avila uses preliminary found materials to create his sculptural work, seeking form through both assemblage and excavation of the surface. The spontaneous gesture and free forms in the sculpture oppose Avila’s paintings, which are defined by hard edges, symmetrical composition, and orderly brushstrokes. Two sides of the same coin, these contrasting methods demonstrate the simultaneous influence of both memory and imagination in Avila’s work, as the artist both recounts narratives and embellishes memory.
Rendered in vivid blues and deep brown tones with deep green, yellow and red accents, Avila’s paintings portray scenes from both his past and daily life with exaggerated scale and palette. While he seeks to archive special scenes in his life, imagination is integral to his paintings, enriching moments when either memory or literal representation falls short. In the painting Taller 42, an entryway fills the canvas, an ornate gate marked Taller 42 with stained glass on top. A bird hovers in front of the stained glass, a sign of optimism that alludes to hope and potential.
Isaac Vazquez Avila
”Duro y dale”
Acrylic on wood panel
14 x 11 Inches
Framed
2021
Textual elements hide in Avila’s paintings like secret clues, detailing memories or moments from his upbringing. In Taller 42 the words Grupo Kual are written vertically surrounding the gate. The text references the homoynous musical act Grupo Kual?, a cumbia sonidero group from the north of Mexico City. Their music, which melds pop and folk styles from across Latin American and the Caribbean is said to “lift you from the dead.” Like Grupo Kual’s music, Avila’s painting and sculpture breathe new life into physical objects, diverse materials, and fragments of memory.
Isaac Vazquez Avila (b.1983, Mexico City) is a painter and sculptor living in San Francisco, California. Avila’s practice traces his upbringing in Salt Lake City and California, embellishing memory with imagination and inspiration from his surroundings. Avila received his BFA from San Francisco State University Latino/a Studies and his MFA in 2016 from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to his fine art practice, he runs a business Avila Rose Signs with Lauren D’Amato, designing murals, creating hand-painted signs, and custom art installations for public and private clients. Avila has exhibited his work at Guerrero Gallery, Right Window Project and Incline Gallery in San Francisco including a solo exhibition Esperanza give me hope at Guerrero Gallery in 2020.