Save the Date: Opening Reception for Saner “In a Dream” and NEXUS at Brand Library & Art Center – Saturday November 5th!
Save the Date: Opening Reception for SANER In a Dream (En un Sueño), a solo exhibition featuring new works and a mural installation, in collaboration with Fifty24MX, and showing in tandem with NEXUS, a group show curated by Thinkspace.
Join us at the opening reception on Saturday, November 5th 6-10pm. The FREE opening night reception will feature a live performance from Lucien Shapiro at 8PM and DJs, cash bars, and food trucks. We are excited to be a media sponsor!!
Thinkspace is presenting two concurrent exhibitions at Glendale’s Brand Library & Art Center, opening November 5, 2016. Nexus, a group exhibition curated by the gallery, will feature pieces by 64 New Contemporary artists alongside murals and installations by Bumblebeelovesyou, Cryptik, Drew Merritt, Kelly Vivanco, Lucien Shapiro and Yoskay Yamamoto. In a Dream (En un Sueño), presented in collaboration with Mexico’s Fifty24MX Gallery,will feature new works and a mural installation by Mexican artist and muralist Edgar Flores (SANER).
In a Dream (En un Sueño)
Edgar Flores (SANER) is based in Mexico City and creates vibrant works that combine contemporary images with references to Mexican, Mayan, and Aztec iconography and folklore. Combining the new with the ancient, SANER explores his cultural heritage visually as a way to reinterpret and navigate the conflicts and politics of the modern world. Questioning the violence and injustice that permeate widely accepted societal mores, SANER’s surreal works are humorous, dark, beautiful and at times haunting. A recurring theme throughout the artist’s paintings, drawings, and murals are the use of Nahuale animal masks, a demonic trickster figure in Mexican mythology, human by day and animal by night. Each assumed identity hides behind that of its counterpart – an ancient metaphor for duplicity that resonates still.
SANER’s characters are sightless, depicted without eyes and concealed behind masks, a symbolic reminder of the persistence of human blindness. The unification of the human and animal worlds, albeit intentionally imperfect and at times jarring in the works, questions the imbalance of our own. SANER exposes our estrangement from nature and the excesses of urban expansion and development by invoking the mysticism of this ancient past. Inspired by the powerful legacy of Mexican political muralists, SANER began his work as a graffiti artist in the late 90s. He went on to study graphic design, and in 2004 received a degree from the Universidad Autónoma de México. SANER continues to create public murals all over the world and has exhibited in Barcelona, Berlin, Denver, London, Los Angeles, New York, and Mexico City.
NEXUS
Presented in tandem with In a Dream (En un Sueño), is Nexus, an exhibition featuring works by an extensive group of artists belonging to the New Contemporary Art Movement. Nexus will offer a curated cross-section of its vital and diverse scene. As exciting as it is varied, its artists create work grounded in the representational, figurative, pop cultural, and referential. The movement is about art that speaks directly and relevantly, grounded by social rather than academic interests.
Nexus will feature installations and murals by Bumblebeelovesyou, Cryptik, Drew Merritt, Kelly Vivanco, Lucien Shapiro and Yoskay Yamamoto, and works by Adam Caldwell, Alex Grant, Alex Yanes, Amanda Marie, Benjamin Garcia, Brett Amory, C215, Carl Cashman, Chie Yoshii, Cinta Vidal, Craig ‘Skibs’ Barker, Dan Lydersen, Dan-ah Kim, Daniel Bilodeau, Derek Gores, Drew Leshko, Drew Merritt, Dulk, Erik Siador, Erika Sanada, Fernando Chamarelli, Fintan Magee, Frank Gonzales, Germs, Glennray Tutor, Henrik Aa. Uldalen, Icy and Sot, Jaime Molina, James Bullough, James Reka, Jana & JS, Jeremy Hush, Josie Morway, Juan Travieso, Kelly Vivanco, Kyle Stewart, Linnea Strid, Liz Brizzi, Low Bros, Luke O’Sullivan, Mario Belem, Mark Dean Veca, Martin Whatson, Mary Iverson, Matt Linares, Matt Small, Matthew Grabelsky, Michael Reeder, Mike Egan, Molly Gruninger, Nosego, Pam Glew, Scott Radke, Sean Norvet, Sergio Garcia, Telmo Miel, Tony Philipppou, Troy Lovegates, Wiley Wallace, X-O, and Yosuke Ueno.
An exciting pair of special projects, Thinkspace is curating the phenomenal spaces of the Brand Library Art Galleries for the first time. The 3,200 square foot venue consists of a primary exhibition space, a 2,800 square foot Skylight Gallery, and an auxiliary space, the Atrium Gallery, 500 square feet overlooking their courtyard.
In a Dream (En un Sueño) and Nexus will be on view through January 7, 2017.
Location:
Brand Library & Art Center
1601 W. Mountain Street
Glendale, California 91201
