About

Eastern Projects is pleased to present “Parallel Universe”, a series of ink drawings on paper (24”x19”) by Gomez Bueno. This is Gomez Bueno’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, and our first exhibition of 2021.

Artist statement

Parallel Universe is a series of ink drawings on paper (24” x 19”) created during the covid-19 pandemic. Due to the mandatory confinement and the social distancing, my wife was working from home and my kids were also distant learning from home. Because my studio is in my house, I had to refrain myself from making the smelly polyester resign sculptures and spray paintings that I was making before all this started. With ink if you make a mistake, it stays there because you can’t cover anything, but it doesn’t smell, is not toxic, you don’t need to have a 5 horse power compressor, or an industrial fan going while you are working. So a decision was made. Obviously I’ve done drawings before but never day after day for more than a year like this time. There are two groups of drawings in the series, the portraits and the compositions.  Both are pretty symmetrical if not totally symmetrical.  This practice is a little challenging but adds a sense of surrealism to the subject that I like. These characters and weird compositions became my social network, hence the title of the exhibition, “Parallel Universe”. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I did creating them.

2/22/21

The work of Gomez Bueno follows the complex and ironic legacy of Pop Art mixed with Conceptual Art, particularly the strand with the most social implications. His are works constructed like games, at once innocent and perverse, without a manifest critical distance. They are radical and festive, ambiguous and devastating, complex and transgressive. He deploys radical humour and irony to move along the narrow line that separates apparent veneration for the irresponsible and hedonistic consumer culture and an acid, critical stance that makes no concessions. Gomez Bueno is a sharpshooter from a space of freedom who arrogates the right to appropriate any icon. His work is always recognizable by its jovial and festive appearance but after careful analysis surprises often appear. Sometimes they are the concepts or images that have been appropriated, others the hidden messages or the technique used nevertheless it is always an added value that differentiates his work from the rest.

 Gomez Bueno’s work has been exhibited  at museums including the Museo de Bellas Artes (Santander), Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Madrid, Circulo de Bellas Artes (Madrid), Centro de Arte (Tenerife), Laguna Art Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), San Jose Museum of Art, LACMA, Harwood Museum Taos (NM), Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico, Galeria Torreao Nascente da Cordoaria Nacional (Lisboa), Grand Palais of Paris, Industrie Und Handelskammer (Frankfurt), Today Art Museum (Beijing) and Chiso Museum (Kyoto) among others. As well as at commercial galleries in Spain, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, England, Portugal, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Thailand, China and USA. 

Only 10 guests in 30 minute intervals will be allowed inside, MASKS and social distancing are mandatory for the safety of everyone. Temperature checks and hand sanitizer will be provided upon entry, time limits will be enforced.

for those who cannot attend, you can join us via ZOOM, https://www.zoom.us/join:

Meeting ID: 689 923 7694

Password: ajAU0S

JOHN M. VALADEZ

“PINTURAS PANDEMIA!’

 CLOSING RECEPTION: NOVEMBER 28, 2020 6:00-9:00 PM

CHINATOWN, LOS ANGELES

About

Eastern Projects concludes “Pinturas Pandemia!”, an exhibition of new paintings by John M. Valadez. This is Valadez’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, and the first solo exhibition at the gallery since Covid-19 shutdown much of the country.

Artist statement
The majority of the work was made during our collective pandemic experience. Some began before the virus hit.
Some of the work themes cover travels I’ve had and travels thwarted since we are all banned in Europe. The paintings cover multiple themes and ideas, figuration, indigenous contrast, history, and burlesque.
May a vaccine liberate us all and we can reacquaint ourselves with creative and subversive normalcy.
JM Valadez
10/10/20

Only 10 guests in 30 minute intervals will be allowed inside, MASKS and social distancing are mandatory for the safety of everyone. Temperature checks and hand sanitizer will be provided upon entry, time limits will be enforced.

for those who cannot attend, you can join us via ZOOM, https://www.zoom.us/join:

Meeting ID: 689 923 7694

Password: ajAU0S

Gary Wong

DriveByPictureShow|WordPictures

 Drawings and Paintings

VIRTUAL OPENING RECEPTION: JULY 11TH, 2020 5:00-8:00 PM
Show Runs: July 11, 2020 - August 8, 2020
CHINATOWN, LOS ANGELES

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/6899237694?pwd=UnZJbTJ4STlQRE9iNDFVaElJa3FBUT09

Meeting ID: 689 923 7694
Password: 0pTFdL

A California native, Gary S. Wong moved with his family from Oakland to Los Angeles at a time when City Hall was the tallest building in the basin. The vantage point of his ethnically diverse E. 21st Street neighborhood just south of Downtown, and the cultural undulations of the time, deeply influenced his artistic, musical, and spiritual life. From an early age, Wong was collecting images, painting and making things, more often than not reflecting a societal underbelly, an underdog or outsider perspective. In high school, he won a contest for a poster he created regarding illegal detainment. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested and jailed for peaceful protesting the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. When the Watts riots were in full swing, Wong was studying at Chouinard Art Institute with master abstract expressionists Emerson Woelffer and Matsumi Kanemitsu. Woelffer taught him the spiritual aspect of the intent and execution of painting. From Kanemitsu, he learned a respect for the qualities the tools and methods bring to the work. Gary Wong’s work is an exploration into the intrinsic qualities of paint and the internal dialogue of American abstract painting.

The reason I paint is as old as Mankind itself: the need to make mark, to leave a message. I have previously worked in the layering of recognizable figures and images with words. I found myself becoming disinterested in people’s interpretation of the images in my work. I was more interested in the grounds, the surface, the texture and its visual richness. I began eliminating the figure or any recognizable subject through my synthesis of stories, myths, ancient history, poems, and songs as written. The purpose of which is to bring focus to the purely visual aspects of the text without the interjection of one’s psyche’s interpretation of that which is 

recognizable. The word conversation comes to mind, the visual energy of story told again and again. The marks, once made, inform the next and the next, and the once silent dialogue develops into a conversation.