Esperanza Mayobre & Gonzalo Fuenmayor: Accumulations

SOLAR is delighted to present the work of two visually distinct artists that share conceptual approaches: Esperanza Mayobre (born in Venezuela, lives in New York) and Gonzalo Fuenmayor (born in Colombia, lives in Miami) present very individual proposals, the first through a selection of drawing, collage, and sculpture, the latter in charcoal and pastel on paper.

Accumulations aims to reveal underlying parallels in what appear to be polar expressions. Mayobre’s recent works consist in laser drawings and sculpture that are crisp, linear, and minimalist. She references architectural or machine structures as complex grids or collapsing frameworks, or at times as compilations of industrial components. In his current Splendor series done in charcoal or pastel, Fuenmayor represents dramatic, representational, morphing images that are hybrids of Victorian elements, such as chandeliers and intricately carved furniture elements, often combined with a repeated banana motif. Each through his/her own discrete ‘accumulations’ transmits a sense of fragmentation, decadence, and obfuscation. Tragedy is a common theme.

Fuenmayor states, “Different strategies are employed in my creative process in order to subordinate the contradictory into a delicate and imaginative order. The approaches may vary, but the banana fruit as well as Victorian ornamentation remain vital in my recent creative process”. Through his exploration of ornamentation, he attempts to uncover “its complicit and amnesic nature…and its relationship with tragedy”.

Mayobre, in a similar vein, “explores cultural/social hierarchies and the tragedy/triumph of the human condition. She selects the media and materials used on each piece in accordance to the idea that she is working with”. Issues of identity, cultural specificity, history, politics, and society are paramount to both their works.