Brutal Beauty
Drawings by Hugo Crosthwaite
27 February - 18 July 2010
San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park, San Diego, California, USA
San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park, San Diego, California, USA
A Tail for Two Cities: Part I (10:01) Part II (9:22)
Artist Interview Time Lapse Advertisement (Spanish)
Exhibition Press >
Born in Tijuana, Mexico in 1971, Hugo Crosthwaite spent his childhood in nearby Rosarito. At a young age, he taught himself to draw after studying the black and white reproductions in books owned by his father such as The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri and Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. This formative experience led to a fascination with black and white compositions.
Crosthwaite received a B.A. in 1997 from San Diego State University. Though Crosthwaite currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, the influence of the Mexico-California border region lingers in his work. Filled with diverse and hybrid cultures, his work represents a synthesis of the art historical canon and contemporary human experience. He explores the immediacy of drawing, while simultaneously demonstrating a keen eye for detail. While Crosthwaite has depicted cityscapes of Tijuana through numerous drawings, this exhibition focuses on his rendering of the figure. Working primarily with charcoal and graphite, he melds the fragility of humanity with through references to popular culture, daily life, and recent history such as the events of September 11 and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. His figures exude a brutal beauty: they are as awe-inspiring for their physical forms as they are for their dramatic sensibilities that suggest baroque, surreal, and film noir influences.
This exhibition is a testament to the powerful work being created by Crosthwaite, an artist with local origins. During the course of the exhibition Crosthwaite will create a new work that will complete this installation and will become a part of the Museum's permanent collection.
- Curated by Amy Galpin, Project Curator for American Art
Artist Interview Time Lapse Advertisement (Spanish)
Exhibition Press >
Born in Tijuana, Mexico in 1971, Hugo Crosthwaite spent his childhood in nearby Rosarito. At a young age, he taught himself to draw after studying the black and white reproductions in books owned by his father such as The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri and Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. This formative experience led to a fascination with black and white compositions.
Crosthwaite received a B.A. in 1997 from San Diego State University. Though Crosthwaite currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, the influence of the Mexico-California border region lingers in his work. Filled with diverse and hybrid cultures, his work represents a synthesis of the art historical canon and contemporary human experience. He explores the immediacy of drawing, while simultaneously demonstrating a keen eye for detail. While Crosthwaite has depicted cityscapes of Tijuana through numerous drawings, this exhibition focuses on his rendering of the figure. Working primarily with charcoal and graphite, he melds the fragility of humanity with through references to popular culture, daily life, and recent history such as the events of September 11 and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. His figures exude a brutal beauty: they are as awe-inspiring for their physical forms as they are for their dramatic sensibilities that suggest baroque, surreal, and film noir influences.
This exhibition is a testament to the powerful work being created by Crosthwaite, an artist with local origins. During the course of the exhibition Crosthwaite will create a new work that will complete this installation and will become a part of the Museum's permanent collection.
- Curated by Amy Galpin, Project Curator for American Art
Three Graces, 2007
graphite and charcoal on wood panel
48 x 48 inches
Private Collection
graphite and charcoal on wood panel
48 x 48 inches
Private Collection
Crosthwaite states, "I create works of art that are beautiful. Not a beauty that duplicates the commonplace aesthetic molded by advertising and mass media imagery but a personal intimate beauty. The depiction of human suffering and violence permeates my images. The works themselves are not violent, rather thoughtful and rife with seductive imagery. I explore the complexities of human expression, everything from alienation to acceptance and even celebration."
Three Graces, created during the same period as Twins, also on view in this installation, includes references to popular culture with Mickey Mouse ears adorning the figure on the left and a cartoon bubble below her. This figure evokes a raw sexuality with her body on display through an ill- fitting top and her short skirt. The feet and socks of the figure exude a masculinity that makes the figure appear androgynous. As the title of this work suggests, across the canvas Crosthwaite melds abstraction with imagery that alludes to classical subjects.
Three Graces, created during the same period as Twins, also on view in this installation, includes references to popular culture with Mickey Mouse ears adorning the figure on the left and a cartoon bubble below her. This figure evokes a raw sexuality with her body on display through an ill- fitting top and her short skirt. The feet and socks of the figure exude a masculinity that makes the figure appear androgynous. As the title of this work suggests, across the canvas Crosthwaite melds abstraction with imagery that alludes to classical subjects.