Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. T.S. Eliot
INTRODUCTION. Having achieved a solid reputation as a purveyor of art presentation, Fine Art Solutions also awards artist residencies and then mounts exhibitions of the work produced. Such is the context of John Valadez’s Valadez in Vernon, an exhibition at East 26 Projects, a site located on the FAS compound.
You can talk about the gritty industrial aesthetic of a museum like the Pompidou. As alternative exhibition spaces go, East 26 projects is the real McCoy. It’s not a museum, with all that implies. First and foremost, it’s a venue for wood and metal frame fabrication, mounting and lamination, matting, canvas stretching, crating, art handling, transport, and on-site installation and consulting. The exhibition space sits smack dab in the middle of the complex. Looking at Valadez’s work this way feels like you’re standing in his studio. It’s a personable space, not too fancy-schmancy. Its viewer friendliness goes a long way toward an enhanced experience of the work.
WHAT'S IT ABOUT? Minus his legendary murals, the work on display amounts to a mini-retrospective of Valdez’s work. It presents 17 pieces. Some life-sized; some much more intimate. All command our attention. Acrylic on canvas, paper, and aluminum panel; mixed media. Some Valadez created during his residency at East 26 Projects on the site of the Fine Art Solutions compound. The rest come from earlier work (prior review here). They are melodramatic and theatrical. Colorful and energetic. Like urban beacons, the larger pieces vie for our attention and consideration. Some pieces refer to a Chicano experience. Some are more general, including the hilarious Fumbles, 2018. Here, men in suits, hapless politicians, presumably, drop the ball when it comes to dealing with an advancing horde of historical malcontents.
WHY DOES IT MATTER? Unlike much too self-conscious work, Valdez’s is accessible and enigmatic. (See Eliot quote, above.) Enigmatic in the sense that, though everything appears straightforward, you can’t just take it in with a single glance. It documents various circumstances. Then it layers them, first, with drama (sometimes melodrama.) Then it invites you to stick around to peel back the layers.
WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT?
- The way it transforms Angelino experiences into universal metaphors.
- Its studiously casual sociological incision and right-on-ness.
- Its humor, sly and devastating.
- The way the pieces coax you in, without revealing all their mysteries. This come-hither factor keeps one coming back for more.
WHAT IF I JUST HAD 10 MINUTES? France has Edouard Manet’s iconic Dejeuner sur l’Herbe. Los Angeles has Valadez’s Lover’s Creek, 2012, acrylic on canvas. This life-size painting depicts a couple canoodling in the bushes off to the right. Another couple plays Marco Polo in the creek while a dude otherwise entertains himself solo. The best part of this piece? Its point of view. No one seems to be aware of our existence. Does that make us voyeurs or does that make us omniscient?
WHO SHOULD SEE IT? Anyone who likes art that you can approach like a stranger on a train with whom you develop an immediate rapport and want to get to know much, more better.
THE VERDICT? Go on your lunch break. It’s minutes from the DTLA arts district.
HOW DO I VISIT? The show runs until June 16. Visits are by appointment. To schedule one, call Jessica Portillo, (323) 881-9776. Fine Art Solutions/East 26 Projects is located at 3461 East 26th Street, Vernon, CA. 90058. For more information click here.