Juan Pablo Garza. My father used to be a Sunday Painter

Alejandra von Hartz Gallery is pleased to present My father used to be a Sunday Painter, a solo exhibition by Juan Pablo Garza. This is Juan Pablo’s second solo exhibition with the gallery and features new wall and floor pieces, and a site-specific installation. 

The show will run from February 2^nd to March 25^th, 2017. An opening reception will be held with the artist on Thursday, February 2^nd from 6 to 9 PM.

 
It will also be our last exhibition at the current location.

The Mitrani Building has been sold and starting April 2017 the gallery will temporarily work in a nomadic fashion: participating in Art Fairs, representing its permanent artists, and attending its clients in a private space by appointment (see itinerary below).

JUAN PABLO GARZA |

MY FATHER USED TO BE A SUNDAY PAINTER
 
Garza (Maracaibo, Venezuela. 1980) has been working for the past fifteen years in a variety of mediums including, photography, painting, sculpture, installation, video and mixed media art works. His pieces focus on his relationship with his immediate environment and with a mode of production that studies the transformation of quotidian objects into expressive matter. He works mostly with found materials that are then assembled. In such a way that he develops arrangements that do not follow logical criteria, but are based only on subjective relations and parallels, inciting the viewer to make new personal associations in which fiction meets reality and what is natural meets the artificial. Through a meticulous experimental method, he creates new poetics, activated by a critical understanding and a sensitive reaction to the space that contains the work.
 
The following text consists of fragmented ideas about Garza´s creative process; a sort of list of interests and curiosities.
 
Objects and their own logic, objects as concepts. Speaking of them and many other things that justify their own existence, I say: form is not denial, let the content be conceived and suspended in the air with the vibration of the work. I commit myself to a continuous swing, to the possibility of incorporating the change from one state to another; the most vital search. I hear myself thinking about my relationship with my immediate environment… I keep on mumbling. Yes! I am going to give it a try and project volumes as constructions in a universe of their own. Come here! I proudly present these messy fruits to you.

Constant collecting of articles-materials and their organization in my workspace. All this is complemented with what the accidental brings. Roads of association: Peruvian flute, transparent grid, celestial debris, clouds as soap, painted bones, blocks of feathers, waves and purple glass tears, color wheel, square stones, sprayed braids and a fishing net. A sustained creative speculation from and around objects. Entities wavering between truth and fiction. Entities that respond to instincts and logic interchangeably. I pause. I really hope one day I can understand an apple or one or two glasses. ¨
 

Juan Pablo Garza 2016.

 
Juan Pablo Garza was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela (1980). He currently lives and works in Miami, FL. He was co-founder and co-director of the Contemporary Art Space Al Borde (2010-2014) in Maracaibo, which won a grant in 2012 from the Fundación Cisneros/CPPC within its program to support cultural organizations. His work has been exhibited in countries like Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Canada, United States, Spain, Holland and Germany. His solo show Reforma del Ahora (Al Borde. Maracaibo, 2012), was published in Artforum as one of the best exhibitions of the year per curator Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy. He was selected to participate in the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Residency Program, with a grant from the Fundación Cisneros/CPPC. Most recently he participated in Ox-Bow Fall Residency Program and will be attending Bemis Center Art Residency program in 2017. Garza currently has his studio at ArtCenter South Florida through their one-year residency studio program.

Our History:
 
Alejandra von Hartz Gallery first opened its doors in 2002, coinciding with the first edition of Art Basel Miami Beach.
 
In the beginning, the gallery established itself in a small space on the second floor of the Buena Vista Building in Miami’s Design District. Three years later, in 2005, the gallery moved to an industrial Wynwood and joined select galleries in spearheading the transformation for what would become the Wynwood Arts District. Finally, the gallery settled in the Mitrani Building in 2006 where it has been since.
 
Founded by Alejandra von Hartz, the gallery gained recognition for running a highly-focused program of exhibitions. With a profile that places emphasis on contemporary Abstraction, Constructive, Conceptual and Minimal art, and a focus in Latin American Art in dialogue with global contemporary art, the gallery pays special attention to new medias, and the relationship between art, architecture, and space.
 
The gallery continues to support the evolving practice of its established artists and promoting emerging talents and their potential, in both traditional and experimental exhibitions, including commissioned and site specific works. The gallery serves as a trusted consultant and advisor, to numerous collectors, museums, and other institutions throughout the globe.