SANTA FE, NM.- Gerald Peters Contemporary is presenting We The People, an exhibition of new graphite drawings by Texas-based artist Fernando Andrade. The work continues the artist’s decade-long examination of human vulnerability and increased gun violence.

A native of Acuña, Mexico (located six miles south of Del Rio, Texas), Andrade’s first iteration of the series focused on the violent activities of drug cartels along the U.S.-Mexico border. Now, the artist turns his attention to the prevalence of gun violence within our communities and schools. Utilizing his meticulously executed drawings, Andrade depicts children – both singularly and in small groups – smiling and playing with what appear to be stick guns. Closer examination reveals the gun shape to be cut away and replaced with 100-dollar bills.

The softness of the graphite and tenderness with which Andrade depicts his figures stands in strong contrast to the difficult subject at hand. Succinct and compelling, the works reflect deep tragedy and loss and compel us to consider the underlying motivations affecting future generations.

“I am interested in the history of firearms within our political system. The works, a reflection of our actions, serve as a reminder of reoccurring events across time and land, where money and power are at the forefront of law-making. Because of the choices and greed of the few, countless lives will continue to be affected across our communities.”

Andrade graduated from San Antonio College in 2008 and has received numerous honors including Fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center and most recently, the International Artist Residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin. His work is in the collections of the San Antonio Museum of Art, the Argo Group, and numerous private collections.

TOM BIRKNER

Gerald Peters Contemporary is also presenting Night & Day On Main, an exhibition of new paintings by Tom Birkner. This is his third solo exhibition at the gallery in Santa Fe.

Carefully observed and chromatically inventive, Birkner’s paintings of Main Street American seek to illuminate the direct, personal, common, and unsung. The subjects- a toddler reaching for his teenage mother’s hand, a romping graduation celebration in an abandoned factory, the loneliness of an empty street late at night- are rendered in Birkner’s signature gritty realism. Building his canvases through the application of numerous layers of paint, Birkner aggressively applies and scrapes away paint until the everyday circumstances take on vivid cinematic quality. And although far from Rockwellian, Birkner remains sensitive to idiosyncrasies, depicting places and people who are endearing, mysterious, and wholly themselves.

Birkner received his B.A. from Rutgers University and his M.F.A. from Pennsylvania State University. He is a two-time recipient of the New Jersey State Council on The Arts Fellowship, and his work was recently exhibited at the El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas and Centro Cultural de las Fronteras, Juárez, Mexico. He has been featured in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally and has earned reviews in the New York Times and ARTnews.

GIL ROCHA

Gerald Peters Contemporary is presenting Gil Rocha: 2nd Place. Working across various modes of art-making such as sculpture, collage, assemblage and installation art, this exhibition of new work continues Rocha’s exploration and celebration of Mexican-American border culture.

Born and raised in Laredo, Rocha has always focused on the sociopolitical and rich and complex realities of life on the border. The artist reflects, “The Mexican-American border is an amalgamation, a unique blend of two cultures; a two thousand mile border that varies from region to region, each with distinct politics, religion, topography, cuisine, and dialect. Despite the nuances, there is a common thread tying it all together; a disorderly aesthetic. This aesthetic is based on survival rather than appearance, which creates a sensibility in areas with limited resources which I find beautiful.”

It is this aesthetic that drives Rocha’s work. Assembling found personal and household objects, Rocha works within the style of Rasquachismo. Coined by Chicano scholar Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, the term refers to “making the most with the least” but can also refer to a worldview, “the view of the underdog, which combines inventiveness with a survivalist attitude”. This perspective is reflected in the title of the show, 2nd Place, as further explained the artist, “My pieces are assemblages and sculptures constructed using found objects. They are fragmented narratives illuminating somber moments combined with the willingness to triumph over adversity. These are depictions of the underdog and how second place feels…Esfuerzo eterno, y resistencia!”.

In these most recent works, Rocha also draws aesthetic inspiration from Marcel Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, and Abraham Cruzvillegas-artists who approached making art by using intuition and accepting mistakes as part of their work. Rocha applies the same sensibility in his often precarious and multilayered compositions of stacked, grouped or balanced discarded or castoff objects.

The resulting works reflect not only the culture from which these objects permeate but deliver a commentary on the complexities of human connection and the resilience of the human spirit. Author and curator Susie Kalil states, “With their blunt-force assertions, their challenging irony, their earthy sexuality and their embrace of life as a big, messy possibility, his sculptures and assemblages are both serious and accessible, connecting us to our own feelings of having to endure an often absurd, unfair world.”

As Rocha continues his interpretations of border culture, he often engages the use of language. Fascinated with the border’s “vibrant dialogue and cross-pollinated vocabulary (Tex-Mex, Pocho, Spanglish)”, Rocha often teases the viewer with word-play, utilizing homonyms and rhymes. These elements lend a playfulness to the works but also establish a personal language that is reinforced by familiar objects that make up the works. Together, Rocha uses these elements to investigate ideas about individual and collective identity, ambition, perseverance, unity, and community.

Gil Rocha received his MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His works have been presented nationwide including notable exhibitions with the El Paso Museum of Art, Museo de Art de Ciudad Juarez and Museu del Barrio, New York. This exhibition marks Rocha’s first with Gerald Peters Contemporary.