On view November 1, 2019–January 3, 2020

Assembled from private collections, this exhibition of Salomón Huerta’s work aims to disrupt strictly negative representations of Latinxs by offering nuanced portraits of Mexicans and Mexican Americans. Huerta gained international fame from his paintings of anonymous subjects who are viewed from behind, playing with ideas of identity and assumption. The works in this series are instead identifiable, both intimate familial poses and recognizable Latinx faces. These paintings and monographs were created without a political agenda, simply as creative expressions of what Huerta sees and where he is from. This exhibit coincides with a lecture by Huerta and his brother Alvaro, who researches immigration, on their creative collaborations together.

Salomón Huerta, M.F.A., and Alvaro Huerta, Ph.D., are siblings of eight who grew up in abject poverty in Colonia Libertad in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico and in the Ramona Gardens public housing project (Big Hazard projects) in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, Alta California; a background that influences their work. Salomón is a critically-acclaimed artist that has exhibited in influential exhibitions and spaces across the globe, including at Gagosian, London, the Whitney Biennial, the Hammer Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C., LACMA, and Studio La Città, Italy. Salomón received his BFA in Illustration from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and his MFA from UCLA, where he studied under Lari Pittman.

Sponsored by the Sarah W. Heath Center for Equality and Justice.

Image: Salomón Huerta, Carmen Mejia Huerta, oil, 11.5 x 12 inches, 2015. Courtesy of Alvaro Huerta.