Tijuanerias
Artists' Reception - Saturday, April 14, 6-8 PM
14 April - 26 May 2012
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles
2685 S. La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90034
T 1+ 310 838 6000
www.LuisDeJesus.com
gallery@luisdejesus.com

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Artist Statement | Press Release | Exhibition Press

LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART CONFIRMS ACQUISITION OF TEN DRAWINGS BY HUGO CROSTHWAITE
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Artist Statement
Tijuanerias simply refers to anything having to do with the city of Tijuana. This exhibition is a series of 102 ink and wash drawings along with an installation environment. It is my interpretation of Tijuana's Leyenda Negra or "Black Legend." Since the 1920s, Tijuana has been marked as a symbol of perversion and vice, a stigma that continues to define the violence and social upheaval of this border city.

Tijuanerias depicts dark figures in dark places, madmen, prostitutes, drug violence, murder – the power and the excess of narco wealth. Mixed with these foibles and idiosyncrasies are people that appear to be always in transition, crossing or waiting to cross a socio-political and economic border to perceived “greener pastures.” These drawings are my satirical fantasies: Tijuana as a place of purgatory. Horribly real, humorously weird and often bizarre, there is a complicity and an acceptance that one can grow accustomed to anything as long as there is a deal to make and money to be made.

Tijuanerias pays homage to Goya's "Caprichos" with its depiction of grotesque figures and themes done in an informal, sketch-like style. My work describes an existing dichotomy in Tijuana. A place of fetishes, cartoons, and graffiti scribbles alongside a threatening and deeply ingrained rationality governed by money, political interest and empty gestures of civility.
 

Numbers 101 - 102, Tijuanerias - 102 Drawings
Tijuanerias - 102 Drawings, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles
Tijuanerias Installation, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles
Hugo Crosthwaite at work on Tijuanerias Installation