Abraham Cruzvillegas (CRF 2007) has an exhibition, Tres sonetos, up at Regen Projects in Los Angeles until April 23rd, 2022.
His third solo presentation at Regen Projects, Cruzvillegas takes inspiration from the work of Mexican poet Concha Urquiza to create an all-new series of drawings, paintings, and sculptures all produced on-site during the installation of the exhibition.
“Over the past decade Cruzvillegas has continually explored the ways in which his life and experiences can find representation in physical form. His humorous but incisive takes on identity often employ animal avatars to draw out similarities between humans and other species, particularly primates. In a new series of drawings, the artist’s own photographic likeness serves as the basis for such investigations. Thin textiles printed with images of his face act as canvases that Cruzvillegas will embellish with designs rendered in bold colors. Employing a similar formal language, the artist will also present a group of large-scale calligraphic paintings. Composed flat on the gallery floor, he will use a mop or broom to apply paint in loose, expressive gestures that serve as records of their performative nature and translate from the rhythms and tones of the poems of Concha Urquiza into abstract form.
Cruzvillegas’s practice is guided by an aesthetic and conceptual ethos he terms autoconstrucción. Literally meaning “self-construction,” it is inspired by ad hoc and collaborative popular building methods common to urban Mexico, in particular the Ajusco neighborhood of Mexico City where he was raised. Continuing his interest in functional form, the artist has designed three new structures that will serve at once as sculpture, platform, and gallery seating.”
Learn more about the show here.