ace/121 Gallery is pleased to present RITUAL/S, the first shared exhibition of Glendale-based visual artists Leo Eguiarte and Melly Trochez.
Leo Eguiarte’s ongoing series delves into a world of symbolism and graphic imagery, reflecting Eguiarte’s interests in signs and everyday ritual. While much of the work suggests esoterism and metaphysical states or landscapes, Eguiarte’s approach is particularly subtle, focusing on the unspoken customs that particular groups or individuals practice daily.
Eguiarte was raised in Pasadena and he remembers stories he heard as a child about JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA), the Devil’s Gate gorge of Arroyo Seco and the folklore of the local Tongva tribe of the Hahamog’na region (present day Glendale and Pasadena).
Melly Trochez’s work deals specifically with rituals: activities that are passed on culturally through generations that become embedded in notions of identity. Particularly interested in observing – and often commenting on – standards of beauty in Latina culture, Trochez’s larger format acrylic
paintings depict characters from her own life (sometimes even herself) participating in beautifying routines: ironing and bleaching hair, applying sunblock, mirror gazing – many rituals that become unconscious, those that we forget why we even began doing them. Comments made when we were younger, images seen during developing years, advice and critique passed down through generations become an everyday practice.
In their first shared exhibition, Eguiarte and Trochez have chosen to collaborate on a work together throughout the course of the exhibition. By sharing the development of a single artwork as part of their exhibition, the two artists will create and confront their own ritual/s in real time in the space of the ace/121 Gallery.
This exhibit is made possible by the Eisner Foundation and LA County Arts Commission. It is presented by EngAGE and Meta Housing.
Opening Reception: November 17, 2018, 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday, 1:00 – 6:00 pm; Wednesday & Thursday, 11:00 – 4:00 or by appointment
Contact benevans.engage@gmail.com for more information.