BROKEN TREE - Javier Peláez at William Turner Gallery

JAVIER PELÁEZ BROKEN TREE

WILLIAM TURNER GALLERY

BROKEN TREE

In Javier Peláez ‘s recent work, executed in Mexico City for this year’s exhibition project with William Turner Gallery, there are new formal and discursive premises in the composition of the images and also lines of continuity with respect to his past explorations. Specifically, the artist continues to develop the optical complexity of abstract planimetric architectures; retains the connection with certain Japanese visual elements; supports the idea of the diagram or structure of floating or weightless forms; and continues to resort to the industrial or high-tech chromatic scenes that incorporate fluorescence into sober color repertoires.

As for the new premises visible, the first thing that is noticed is an emphasis on the tension between the secant geometrical planes and the image of the trunk of the tree. The atmosphere in most of these new paintings is that of a world where the organic is placed in an artificial and strident scenery (somewhat influenced by “vapor wave” aesthetics) where architectonic planes strive to configure themselves against broken tree trunks while the rupture of the trunk emphasizes on the concept of fragility and change as inevitable components of our human condition.

Conceptually Pelรกez himself associates the icon of the tree with a process of reference to his personal history. The tree is related to fatherhood, specifically to the figure of his late father, who used to be an architect.

The Garden of Eden has been subverted: the tree of life and enlightenment, according to the ancestral sacred mythologies, appears dry and broken in the visions of Javier Pelรกez, in a state of fragmentation and sterility. The dystopian tone of the iconography invoked by the artist speaks, in a sense, of the crisis of the idea of happiness and raises a saga of the mediatization of reality.

Erik Castillo Art Critic and Curator - Mexico City

Javier Pelåez, Vapor #1, 2019, oil on linen Diameter: 63�

Installation - Natalie Arnoldi Shipstern & Andy Moses Geodesy 1504

Javier Pelรกez, Vapor #1, Broken Tree #1 & Broken Tree #2

Javier Peláez Broken Tree #7, 2019, oil on linen 74.8” x 59”

Javier Pelรกez, Broken Tree #8, Broken Tree #6 & Broken Tree #5

Javier Pelรกez - The Broken Tree Suite

Javier Peláez, Broken Tree #1, 2019, oil on linen, 62.9” x 47.5”

Javier Peláez, Broken Tree #5, 2019, oil on linen, 63” x 47”

Javier Pelรกez, Vapor #1, Broken Tree #1 & Broken Tree #2

Javier Peláez, Broken Tree #4, 2019, oil on linen, 62.9” x 47.5”

Javier Peláez, Broken Tree #8, 2019, oil on linen, 62.9” x 47.5”

Javier Peláez, Broken Tree #6, 2019, oil on linen, 62.9” x 47.5”

Javier Peláez, Broken Tree #9 a-f, 2019, oil on paper, 21” x 17” framed

Javier Peláez, Broken Tree #9 a-f, 2019, oil on paper, 21” x 17” framed

Javier Peláez, Split Triptych, 2019, oil on paper, 34” x 26” Each

Broken Tree #10, 2019, oil on stainless steel, 13” x 8” x 6”

Broken Tree #10, 2019, oil on stainless steel, 13” x 8” x 6”

JAVIER PELÁEZ / CV

Javier Peláez was born in 1976 in Mexico City.

He has an undergraduate in Architecture from Universidad La Salle in Mexico City.

RESIDENCIES 2017 2016

Casa Nano (Casa Wabi) - Tokio, Japan. October.

Vermont Studio Center - Johnson Vermont, USA. October.

SOLO SHOWS 2019 Broken Tree - William Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, California, USA.

Paisajes Flotantes- Archivo Colectivo Gallery, Mexico City, México (Curated by por Erik

Castillo) 2018 Satori - 123 Gallery- México City, México. (Curated by Alberto Ríos de la Rosa

Un lugar para nombrar - Libertad Gallery - Queretaro City, Qro. México. ( Curated by

Christian Barragán ) 2017 At The Front Door Of A Stone- William Turner Gallery, Santa Monica, California, USA.

Un lugar para nombrar - Centro Cultural Acatlán, UNAM, State of México, México.

2015 Naturaleza Indeterminada - Drexel Gallery, Monterrey, N.L., México.

2013 Vanitas - Museum of The City of Querétaro, Qro, México.

2012 Narciso -Toca Gallery, México City, México.

2010 Objetos Sagrados - Toca Gallery, México City, México.

2008 Obra Reciente - Museo de la Universidad de Puebla, Pue., México.

Objects and Metaphors - Arcadia Gallery, New York, USA. 2005 Relatos de Luz -Praxis Gallery, México City, México.

COLLECTIVE SHOWS 2019

2018

2017

Geometric Abstraction in Latin America- George Mason University, Virgina, USA. Constelación- Archivo Colectivo Gallery, México City, México.

Rembrandt 350 / 12 artists - Traeger & Pinto Gallery, México City, México..

Anonymous Drawings- Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin, Germany.

Cross Section - William Turner Gallery at Lift Space. Los Angeles, Ca. USA Trayecto o curso de una parte a otra - DIAGRAMA, México City, México.

(Curated by Violeta Horcasitas).

Mu / Seven Artists, Seven Voids - Quetzalli Gallery, Oaxaca, Oax., México.

Puras Cosas Nuevas - Pantalla Blanca, México City, México Bastidores - Prim Public Project, México City, México.

Red Star, Winter Orbit- Hispánica Gallery (Proyecto H), México City, México.

2016 Vanidad y Desengaño - Chancellery Museum, México City, México..

Afinidades y Discordancias - Chancellery Museum, México City, México..

Gihon River School - Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, USA. 2015 Pararrayos - The Mexican Embassy, Berlín, Germany.

2014 El Punto y la Línea - Economic Secretary Gallery, México City, México.’

El Milenio Visto Por El Arte - Cabañas Cultural Center, Jalisco, México;

Museo Metropolitano de Monterrey, Monterrey, N.L., México.

XVI Bienal de Pintura Rufino Tamayo - Tamayo Museum, México City, México;

Contemporary Museum of Oaxaca, Oaxaca, México.

VI Bienal Fundación Codet - Tijuana Cultural Center, Tijuana, México.

2013 El Milenio Visto Por El Arte - Del Carmen Museum, México City, México.;

Contemporary Museum of Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México.

Figuraciones - The Cultural Institute of México, Miami, EUA. 2012 Resistencia - Diagrama Gallery, México City, México.

2011 Summa II / New Perspectives in Contemporary Drawing- Toca Gallery,

México City, México.

Death / Nature - The Laundromat Gallery, Brooklyn, N.Y., USA. 2010 Summa / New Perspectives in Contemporary Drawing- Toca Gallery,

México City, México.

2008 A Collective Effort - Ideobox Gallery, Miami, USA.

Superficies - Museum of Contemporary Art of Tamaulipas (MACT). Tamps, México.

2006 Small Works - Arcadia Fine Arts, New York, USA.

COLLECTIONS Selected Public Collections Secretaria de Hacienda Collection, México City, México.

Chancellery Museum Collection, México City, México.

Milenio Collection, México City, México.

Bastidores Collection, México City, México.

Selected Private Collections Colección Guillermo Pérez Santiago, Ciudad de México.

Colección Bernardo Saenger, Ciudad de México.

Colección Enrique Ochoa, Ciudad de México.

Colección Javier Vásquez Mellado, Ciudad de México.

Colección Pinto Mazal, Ciudad de México.

Colección Yaco García Arte Latinoamericano, Panamá City, Panamá.

2019 WILLIAM TURNER GALLERY