Although the Juxtapoz employees will likely be heading to get a sneak peak of the present at this time in individual, we needed to share a preview at this time of Charlie James Gallery‘s subsequent present, Erick Medel: Vidas, the artist’s first exhibition with the gallery. Erick Medel creates intimate portraits of immigrant life utilizing a stitching machine and thread very similar to one would use a paintbrush and oils. His canvas is deep blue heavyweight denim, which gives a darkish floor that units off the brightly coloured threads which are his chosen medium. Medel attracts inspiration from the colourful Boyle Heights neighborhood outdoors of his studio, capturing road festivals, sidewalk scenes, and quiet moments in works that tenderly have fun the thrill of a thriving immigrant neighborhood.
The works in Vidas supply the viewer home windows into the lives that make up the artist’s neighborhood. He finds magnificence in on a regular basis expressions of satisfaction and care, whether or not it’s a quietly held hand, an artfully organized bouquet, or a raucous block get together. Medel’s thread on denim method lends itself to those neighborhood scenes, evoking each the hazy ambiance of Los Angeles and the staticy vibrance of quickly-glimpsed snapshots, lending every composition the texture of a technicolor reminiscence. Every work additionally holds private significance, stemming from scenes encountered in life and rendered in wealthy, brushstroke-like stitches that commemorate the historical past and current of immigrant life and labor in Los Angeles.
The most important work within the exhibition, Sonidero Evening, captures the colourful, celebratory vitality of music bringing folks collectively. In a composition harking back to the mid-century dance halls within the work of Earnie Barnes, Medel focuses on the motion of the dancers because the dramatic lighting from the stage units the figures glowing. Sonidero nights unite younger and outdated in joyful leisure, making a hyperlink between completely different generations of immigrants. Elsewhere within the exhibition, Medel celebrates the hustle of immigrant life. Road distributors push fruit carts or tote Mom’s Day bouquets, carving out a dwelling within the chaos of the town. A collection of floral nonetheless lifes honor the distributors of LA’s flower district, standing in as portraits of people seen by means of the merchandise of their labor. These works specifically spotlight the nuance that Medel achieves in thread, his delicate linework conveying shadow and light-weight that create delicate shifts of vibrant colour.
Primarily based in Los Angeles, Erick Medel was born in Puebla, Mexico in 1992. Keep tuned for extra within the coming weeks.
