Simard Bilodeau Contemporary is delighted to announce the opening of Despiel, Alfredo Romero’s debut solo exhibition in Los Angeles. It features his latest work on canvas and on linen. Join us for the Artist Reception January 28th 2023, from 5:30PM to 8:30PM
In DESPIEL, the most recent exhibition of the artist, Alfredo Romero delves into the technique to play with the volume, movement and density of the vestiges. This novel series constitutes a bold provocation to vacate life, shed the clothes that dress us and show that accumulation of clothes in a new order and arrangement, hung and supported in other memories. DESPIEL constitutes a sensory journey through the skin, clothing and facades that we have given ourselves socially and individually. And putting on display that brash otherness in motion that we are and have been, through the 15 works that make up the series, the artist himself sets the example and leaves his skin here.
To conceive the existence as an act of memory; to experiment the identity as a perpetual detachment from the skins, the surfaces, the clothes. With this collection, Alfredo Romero Campos distances himself from the usual perception of art to trace the loss history and culture of the streets of Mexico.
With the strappo technique, Romero extracts layers of facades of buildings encapsulating the timelines of these local communities from the last half century that otherwise would disappear. Messages, advertising, propaganda, announcements were painted directly on the walls on top of each other’s. Back in his studio, the artist intervenes onto the artworks creating a bond between the past and the present. These artworks become visual testimonies that relate the true history leaving a permanent imprint as references for the future generations.
His project is in full circle. Giving the locals a voice by listening to the previous generations’ stories, the artworks become an indelible representation of their lost ones, their ancestors, which often allows for them a way to healing.
By extracting old facades, Romero is challenging the limits of delicate physical work, archive and art. He takes a damaged vestige from the streets – mostly from popular and poor neighborhood – that local people find undesirable and turns it into a work of art that is part of museums and art collections. These works create a bridge between locals, art institutions and art connoisseurs. It allows an open conversation about a common reference, putting them at the same table, exchanging about social, historical and cultural references, and relating to one another. .
More information:
www.simardbilodeau.com
