Cosmas + Damian Brown, Alejandro Garcia Contreras, Daniel Adolfo, Beni Single, Lizette Hernandez

The Games We Play curated by MMGC Agency

April 9th - April 30th. 2022 

GROUP EXHIBITION CURATED BY MMGC
THE GAMES WE PLAY
GROUP EXHIBITION (MAIN GALLERY)
EXHIBITION DATES: 9TH APR 2022 to 30TH APR 2022
OPENING RECEPTION: SAT, APR 9TH FROM 7:00 - 10:00 PM
GALLERY HOURS: TUES - SAT / 1 PM - 6 PM
NEW IMAGE ART. 7920 SANTA MONICA BLVD. LOS ANGELES. CA. 90046

The inaugural exhibition of MMGC in Los Angeles, at New Image Art, represents a playful and twisted look into the psyche of the artist. A selection of works from artists based in Mexico and Los Angeles, this show explores both the bodily connections of creation and depiction, as well as delving into ideas of the artist at play, and the intersections between fantasy and obsession. 

The body has always played an essential role in art, both as medium and subject matter. While focus shifts between representation and abstraction, and the idea of the figure takes on new meaning through time, this work is always self-reflexive, exploring the meaning of existing within a defined form, as well as broader understandings of being, engaging and challenging notions of sex, gender, pleasure and pain, and the human experience as a whole.

In this exhibition the formal representation of the figure is intertwined with the artist’s expression of the self at play, presenting a multi-faceted rumination on the modes of playfulness as perceived by the creator. This is evident both in the work itself, as well as in the playful approach to the processes of art making. Whether it is through serene contortion, sexual experimentation, fantasy, or disguise, the works explore the intersections between a kind of child-like melodrama and the catharsis of the artist’s unburdening of the mind.

Beneath the jovial facade lies a much deeper exploration of desire, sometimes carnal and erotic, sometimes psychic or spiritual. While straddling important issues and engendering ideas of human existence as a monumental concept, this work veers into a more personal exploration of the psyche, asking the viewer to look inward, embracing the fantastical world of the imagination as the ultimate expression of the human experience.

Daniel Adolfo, Venezuelan artist living and working in Mexico City, explores in his figurative paintings a soft and sensual language of physical movement. While usually working in pure abstraction, the figurative works presented in this show seem to reference a carnal dance, rife with desire and an exploration of the self. The solitary pensive attitude of these figures, mingled with their quiet movement, seems to engage the inner quietudes of solitary play, while considering the more serious and analytical expression of the artist’s mind.

Alejandro Garcia Contreras, who is based in Guadalajara, explores the interplay between physical and fantastical in his ceramic and sculptural works. Deeply influenced by esoteric and mystical beliefs, while drawing his imagery from Japanese animation, his works are both pensive and animated by a childish joy. The ceramic vases include bodily amalgams of faces, hands, or breasts, and seem to drip endlessly with the eternal bodily fluids. Contreras’ use of traditional ceramic techniques to broach ideas of sexual desire and ancient fertility, constantly tantalize and engage the viewer.

Beni Single is an Australian artist based in Mexico City, whose paintings are defined by a playfulness and  simplicity of mark-making. Single’s works tend to explore the relationship of human and animal figures in ambiguous and abstract spaces, often referencing a deeply child-like freedom of form and idea. Using non-traditional materials, such as doors and commercial house paint, the works have an element of naïveté, epitomizing the artist at play.

Cosmas And Damian Brown, a Los Angeles-based artist raised in Mexico, uses diverse materials to engage ideas of mythology, and its intersection with modernity. The counterbalance of motifs such as masks and mystic symbolism, with cars and mechanical parts speaks to an attempt to find meaning in an increasingly disembodied reality. Experimentation with materials such as resin, different  textures, and industrial paints point to a playful engagement with the physical aspects of creation, while disjointed layering of techniques and images references the oftentimes confused interactions between humans and their environments.

Lizette Hernandez (b. 1992, Los Angeles, California) uses clay as a mode to investigate sacred objects and highlight the connections between spiritual ideologies, survival, and nature. She received her BA from the University of California, Los Angeles (2019). Her work has been included in exhibitions at Tlaloc, Los Angeles; Human Resources, Los Angeles; and The Pit, Los Angeles.

In an exploration of the inherent desire to modes of expression that are both shocking  and delightful (title of show) broaches a small intersection of artists who present their interior worlds before the viewer, creating a dialogue between friction and serenity.