MACLA Presents:
Beyond Child's Play
Featuring work by: Pilar Agüero-Esparza & Juan Carlos Quintana
Artists' talk: This Thursday, February 21, 2008 6:30pm
Join the artists for a gallery walkthrough and an engaging conversation about their work.
Exhibition: February 1- March 22, 2008
About Beyond Child's Play
MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana is pleased to present Beyond Child’s Play: New work by Pilar Agüero-Esparza & Juan Carlos Quintana. This two person exhibition features recent stunning paintings and elegant mixed media installations by two of the most compelling mid-career Bay Area artists working today. Their artwork complements one another through layered artistic practices, sensitivity towards materials and shared iconography stemming from the world of children.
San Jose-based artist Pilar Agüero-Esparza is considered by local critics and collectors to be one of the most original artists in the South Bay visual arts community. Prolific in both painting and printmaking, several years ago Pilar began to embrace sculpture, mixed media and installation work. Since this time she has continued to hone her three dimensional artwork, that is simultaneously layered and minimalist. Inspired by her daughter, she began collecting her child’s schoolwork to make art. Here, dozens of pages filled with grammar and arithmetic exercises are neatly sewn together to create the large-scale installation, Homework House. The ritual of writing on the page is complemented by the simple geometry that constructs the house, acknowledging the importance of both education and the home. Other work in the exhibition includes an installation made of chapstick-based doll figurines and abstracted felt animal sculptures.
Pilar’s work has been exhibited in major institutions in the region, including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Oakland Museum of CA, The San Jose Museum of Art, and Galeria de la Raza. Pilar holds a BA in Art from UC Santa Cruz and recently completed her MFA from San Jose State University.
Juan Carlos Quintana was born in Louisiana, of Cuban descent and currently resides in Berkeley, CA. His highly emotive and exquisite artwork is a favorite of those in the Bay Area and beyond. The work in this exhibition stems from a timely series entitled, American Lullabies, which looks at issues surrounding patriotism, war and security. Juan Carlos’ thought provoking paintings and mixed media work, uses children as a metaphor for innocence. The innocence is compromised as the children are placed in environments were war is glorified and commoditized. His large paintings on canvas are filled with images of children frolicking with weapons, nurses attending to dolls, patriotic symbols and natural environments that are filled with destruction and quiet chaos. This exhibition also features a 19.5 foot long painting on tracing paper created especially for MACLA’s gallery.
Primarily a self-taught artist, Juan Carlos holds degrees in Latin American studies and Social Work from Tulane University, New Orleans. His work has been featured in many of the notable arts spaces in the region, including Galeria de la Raza, Babalonia 1808, John Berggruen Gallery, and the San Jose Museum of Art which holds his work in its permanent collection. Additionally, Juan Carlos work has been shown in Havana, Cuba at the Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales.
Related Programs
South First Fridays: March 7, 8pm til late
Join us for an eclectic evening of arts & culture in downtown San Jose's SoFA District as local galleries are open late. www.southfirstfridays.com
Working with Ephemera: A hands-on workshop with Pilar Agüero-Esparza Saturday, March 15, 2008 10am-1pm
This mixed media workshop is for people interested in exploring ephemeral materials such as beeswax, paper, fibers and soap to make art. $25 per person. Scholarships are available, call (408)998-2808 to reserve your space.
Gallery Hours:
Wednesday & Thursday, 12-7pm,
Friday & Saturday, 12-5pm
& by special appointment
Free Admission
For more information please contact Anjee Helstrup-Alvarez @ anjee@maclaarte.org.
Special Thanks to Vung Tau Restaurant for providing the food for the opening of this exhibition.
Image Credit: No Glory in the Kingdom (detail), Juan Carlos Quintana, acrylic on canvas, 2007