The Durón Gallery @ SPARC

VENICE ARTBLOCK AND VENICE ART WALK – EXHIBIT EXTENDED THROUGH MAY 18TH. 

GALLERY HOURS ARE TUES.-SAT. 11AM-5PM

OPENING RECEPTION was SATURDAY, MARCH 1st 5pm-9pm  (view opening night photos below)

BETTY BROWN, ART HISTORIAN, CRITIC AND SCHOLAR  MODERATED ARTIST TALK ON APRIL 10TH 7PM-9PM.  

 Dwora Fried’s mixed media boxes capture people, places and emotions under glass – literally. Composed in identical wooden boxes with glass fronts, the pieces ask unsettling questions about identity, beliefs and memory. They recreate imaginary scenes of displacement, isolation and entrapment.  Unsettling, provocative and at times humorous, the pieces seem to be miniature, colorful doll house rooms: however their small size (8 x 12 x 3.5 inches) force the viewer to get closer and get a sense of the intimate world of the artist. Combining vintage dolls and toys from the 40’s and 50’s with old family photographs and personal items from her mother’s apartment, she recreates what it was like to have the memory of the Diaspora be a part of your childhood. “Growing up as a Jew in Vienna, I have always felt like an outsider and that perspective is reflected in my art,” explains Fried. “It is by far my most autobiographical work; it contains elements of my life as a Jewish/Austrian/Lesbian daughter of a holocaust survivor.”

Jewish Journal Article on Dwora:  http://www.jewishjournal.com/culture/article/artist_displays_whats_missing_in_a_box

Linda Vallejo’s new work is part of her series called Make ‘Em all Mexican.  The work is a biting political satire that de-constructs time-honored images to create new cultural icon. The viewer is cajoled into envisioning an imaginary and wished-for political and social status and then is forced to face the reality. Wickedly funny, these images make the viewer laugh and then apologize for ‘thinking it’s a joke.”  Her new work carries a strong electric charge – to some they are hyper political, for others they are emotional portals to a past remembered and sometimes forgotten, and to others they are just down right hilarious. “Like many Americans, I’ve become a person of the world, with a wide cultural perspective. At a moment of introspection, however, I decided to focus on popular cultural images and objects once beloved of white, middle-class America in the mid-20^th century, and re-vision and transform them through my personal Mexican-American, Chicano lens.”

Interview w/Linda from NMSU:  http://krwg.org/post/make-em-all-mexican-repurposed-art

Opening Night: Shelia Kuehl, Dwora Fried, Debra J.T. Padilla and Armando Durón