May 21 through July 3, 2021 Tasende Gallery will present Perpetual Provocation an exhibit of drawings, sculpture and paintings by Armando Romero (b. 1964).
Even before completing his formal training at La Esmeralda in Mexico City, Romero was deep-rooted in the rich cultural heritage of the pre-Columbian tradition; the Mexican muralist masters Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros; the painter Rufino Tamayo; lithographer Jose Guadalupe Posada, and the graphic art of Jose Luis Cuevas. Mid-career Romero has emerged as a most powerful representative of Mexican Expressionism working today.
The seven paintings, four sculptures and three drawings comprising the exhibit are primarily from 2006-2007 and are populated with Romero's curious characters from the wrestling and circus worlds and beyond. Additionally, there is an early, large painting from 1988 which has never been exhibited before. La Ventana Indiscreta is reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film Rear Window as the observer is given a lens not only to the lively circus street scene below, but also into the private lives beyond the walls of adjacent buildings.
Perpetual Provocation is accompanied by a fully illustrated color catalogue with essays by noted art historians Derrick Cartwright and Peter Selz and is available through our website, tasendegallery.com. In his essay The Pope of Coyoacán, Cartwright writes, "His work deliberately strikes out in its own direction, demonstrating an awareness of conceptualist strategies while remaining blithely independent and true to his own practice. His paintings are complex, narrative constructions with multiple layers of meaning and visual interest. As such they demand a nuanced, if sequential reading." And. "Romero's knack for ironic conflations of form and meaning several possible truths held in tension by doubt and by virtue of their compositional complexity make him a clear crowd favorite."
A reception for the artist takes place Thursday, May 20 from 5 to 7 pm. For further information, please contact the gallery at 858 454 3691 or tasendegallery.com. Tasende Gallery's hours are Tuesday through Friday 10 to 5 and Saturday 11 to 5.