Celebrating Contemporary Latinx Artists
Opening: Monday, September 19, 2022, 4:00 – 6:00 PM
Artplex Gallery is proud to celebrate the creative works of contemporary Latinx artists represented by the gallery. Drawing upon varied influences and experiences of Latin American cultures and histories, these contemporary artists explore perpetually shifting cultural, political, societal, and artistic identities within their artworks.
Graffiti Cubist artist Nico Amortegui paints with unapologetic color and boldness. He states, “My art is rooted in the experience of becoming an immigrant – something I didn’t want to imagine at age 17 when Bogotá was all I knew. Being forever between two cultures has shaped my views and molded the themes of my pieces.” Amortegui begins each of his figurative artworks as an abstract expression of colors, and once his background is complete, a figure appears to him in the abstraction. He then begins transforming his subject with the left eye of his painted figure allowing this eye to lead the rest of his composition as he adds and conceals layers of color and texture.
Nelson De La Nuez is one of the most sought-after contemporary Pop artists practicing today. His striking, vivid mixed media artwork borrows motifs and messages from the language of wealth, power, fame, excess, taste, and access to cast a narrative about modern society. Listed on the “Who’s Who List of the Most Collected Artists of Our Time” list, his works are original, bold, and outspoken. Known to many as The King of Pop Art®, De La Nuez is an innate iconoclast, elevating themes from commerce, pop culture, advertising, and branding to provide commentary on our culture – showing us that the entire world is for sale – in a manner that is both ironic and aspirational.
As an artist born in post-revolutionary Cuba, Carlos Gamez de Francisco paints a bright distorted reality in which he demystifies classical beauty and presents it as a process in its natural form. The figures in his portraits are superimposed and manipulated through the artist’s own experiences of historical figures and events. Heavily influenced by his Cuban upbringing in Russian-governed academia, Gamez de Francisco rethinks and questions the accuracy of historical narrative within the context of censorship of contemporary art and decontextualizes epochs and artistic symbols to establish a connection between the realities of the present and the past.
Born in Chile in 1980, Sebastian Riffo Montenegro is a painter and digital artist. The literal lines and meticulous technique of his works offer an unquestionable realism where the images, textures, and palette are clear, frontal, and concrete. However, Montenegro urges the viewer to delve into the underlying mysteries of the series; reconsidering what is initially offered as mere imagery. Deliberately worked from photographs, his paintings act as a catalyst for criticism towards the subconscious consumption of images and the effect that consumerist social constructs have on this consumption.
Born in 1974 in Mexico, Hugo G. Urrutia is a multidisciplinary artist-designer who is interested in the cross-pollination between art and architecture. His artwork challenges the notion of what constitutes a piece of art. A graduate and active member of the Architectural Association in the United Kingdom, Urrutia’s work creates a distinct spatiality located at the interstice of art and architecture. His work explores and uses technology for design and fabrication, with a sensitive and conscious reminder of the creativity of human endeavor.
Since the opening of Artplex Gallery in 2018, the gallery continues to be one of the world's leading art galleries specializing in high-quality, original contemporary art representing a broad spectrum of major international artists. Right at home in West Hollywood and within immediate proximity to its sister gallery Artspace Warehouse, Artplex Gallery is an expansive modern space that specializes in international urban, pop, graffiti, figurative, and abstract art catering to the visual impact.
