About
Since the early 90s, Victor Reyes has been painting. His work has been shown extensively in countries around the world, including the group show titled Letters First (2006) which traveled to Tokyo, Taipei, Korea, and Barcelona, Public Provocation (2008) at Carhartt Gallery, Weil am Rein, Germany, Will Rise group show (2010) as Yves Laroche Gallery, Montreal, Canada and Misspelled (2010), a solo show at Robert Berman E6 Gallery, San Francisco. Misspelled was culminated through an experiment in typography in which Reyes painted all 26 letters of the alphabet in the Mission and he published a 104-page book for the exhibition under the same name.
Reyes’ work has been commissioned for Louis Vuitton in conjunction with Stephen Sprouse for a San Francisco Flagship store release and in 2010, his feature, “Man of Letters on a Mission” was the cover story for the San Francisco Chronicle.
VICTOR REYES / THE JUNGLE
Opens: March 24, 2012 | 8-11pm
Runs: March 24 – April 7, 2012
Known Gallery is pleased to present The Jungle, featuring new paintings by Victor Reyes. In this ambitious body of work, Reyes’ illuminates the savage nature of humanity in the context of modern day America while simultaneously exposing the primal, mammalian inclinations that pulse just under the facade of contemporary culture. The artist critiques the premium placed on notions of “civility” while celebrating instinct and acknowledging the dark underbelly of our society.
The Jungle is a two yearlong exploration of human nature and survival. Jungle themes first appeared on Reyes’ black and while murals and have been translated into the subject of many paintings on wood panel that explore a variety of color palettes.
The Jungle is submerged in the representational motifs of animals, carnage and patterns arrayed in warm, vibrant colors that recall the meat, bone and sinew that comprise all mammals. Herein lie tapestries of line and palette whose language and conversation are a departure from the formulaic and mundane. Within this new work, Reyes reveals a world of color and form where situational dramas are framed into context by pigment and fury. Each new picture presents the very real emotions of survival and dominance in an exhibition that encapsulates Reyes’ stark and meaty vision of our civilization.
Hold on Tightly, new work by Victor Reyes, is an explorative site-specific installation at San Francisco’s Cassel Gallery. The concept for this body of work is the relationship between quilting and graffiti in the context of American Folk Art. Hold On Tightly is partially inspired by Reyes’ contemplation of designing, the tradition of quilting and textile working, and graffiti as the newly emerging Folk Art. For this installation Reyes draws on the history of quilting and textile work, in an effort to visually marry old traditions with the new role of graffiti as a form of cultural expression.
The site-specific nature of this exhibition is informed by the location of the Cassel Gallery within a design studio. The unique exhibition space has offered Reyes the opportunity to explore these folk art inquiries in the context of an over one hundred year old textile company. Hold On Tightly has been developed specifically for Cassel Gallery as a dedication to the history of hand made fabrics.
Reyes’ work is derived from outsider art practices, rooted in the California’s street art movement of the past two decades. The experiences and relationships forged in this time have dictated the course of the Reyes’s work, weaving a story, woven into Quilts. These new patchwork pieces explore Reyes’ artistic development and perspective, formed through personal history and his immersion in graffiti culture.
The story of America is fettered with footnotes of cultural relevance that are captured by the people that have shaped this maverick country — The story of these custom Quilts is a dedication to the people that have shaped the Artwork of Victor Reyes.