OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, March 15
La Mariposa, 111 Avenue A, 7pm
Exhibition through April 26
Hours:
Artist Statement:
"Jesus Vio uses landscape to explore new themes and aesthetics for the general global consciousness by using multimedia collage, contemporary transcendental/spiritual reflections of nature, and titles with themes of science. One of his main references for this body of work has been the Luminist landscapes by the Hudson River School artists between 1850-1870. The motifs of the Luminists were westward expansion, manifest destiny, rediscovery of the divine in deep/tranquil uncharted nature, while creating a national identity after the American Revolution. These themes were conveyed through depiction's of the sun setting in the west, unrecognizable brush strokes that create stillness and soft celestial lighting over the uncharted territory by the early European colonizers. Vio references these Luminist aesthetics to deconstruct and challenge them. Instead of using unrecognizable brush strokes, he uses multimedia collaging as a metaphor for re-assembling the remaining bits of our anthropogenic landscapes and holding space for the preservation and construction of amorous ecological and biodiverse environments. The Luminists ethos don't align with Jesus's politics and the way he sees landscapes as a first generation American Latino in 2018. Now that the global landscape is facing a moral division and identity crisis, he seeks to make ways for many unrecognized narratives or realities, that depart from the traditional values of painters like the Luminists. He's in search for progress, a new type of modern landscapes. As he looks over the oxbow at Skinner Park in Hadley, MA, Vio feels at peace aligning his histories to this scenery, while hoping for redemption, reconciliation, and justice for all unspoken identities."
Bio:
Jesus Vio is a visual artist, musician, and poet born in Santiago, Chile, in 1989. At age six, he moved to Frankfurt-Germany for 2 years and then relocated to Miami Beach, FL where he developed his passion for the arts as a teenager. He attended Design and Architecture Senior High (DASH) in Miami until 2008 and then got accepted to School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) and Tufts University in Boston, MA, where he graduated with a BFA in 2012. Jesus has since made art, music, and poetry while residing in Miami, Boston, Nashville, Berlin and is currently living in Northampton, MA. His visual art practice consists of collage, sculpture, and performance art.
La Mariposa Mission Statement:
Our Mission is to provide a space where people of color can celebrate, heal, resist, and build towards our collective liberation. *** We uplift projects that encourage freedom of self expression, address the legacies of white supremacy and settler colonization, and work towards the liberation and self-determination of people of the global majority. We understand that art comes in many forms and allowing the space to express them is powerful in and of itself. *** We prioritize youth, elders, women, gender non-conforming, queer and trans people of color.
