Post by lastritesgallery on Jul 9, 2014 13:31:47 GMT -8
Richard J Oliver: www.lastrites.tv/richard-j-oliver-elements
Stefano Alcantara: lastrites.tv/stefano-alcantara-waqaynan
Richard J Oliver
"Elements"
July 12th – August 23rd, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 12th, 7 – 11pm
New York (July 12th, 2014) – Last Rites Gallery is pleased to present Elements, new work by Richard J Oliver, in what will be his first solo show at the gallery. Elements will include 17 oil paintings and 4 charcoal drawings and mark a personal evolution for Oliver as a father, artist and human being. Deeply inspired by poetry, the basic elements and metaphysical schools of thought, Oliver has departed from his apocalyptic and foreboding narrative paintings and embraces the very core, albeit, immaterial, of all living things—the soul— and surrenders himself eagerly.
Oliver’s paintings are a testament to his perspective on life. In this series, he continues his prominent use of youthful figures, and shapes nature’s most complex thinkers, human beings, into manifestations of fundamental thought. Oliver chose lines from 13th century poet and Sufi mystic, Rumi, the original five elements (earth, air, water, fire, aether) and Emily Dickinson poetry to title his work. Each title highlights the transient nature of all living things in a positive light. They bring us back to our roots and to the most essential part of our being. All of these themes present in his titles are suggestive of the immaterial, something that is becoming validated through research into quantum physics and quantum field theory and is the essence of our experiential existence, echoing the words of ancient philosophers and mystics.
Oliver’s use of his childlike figures serve as visuals to communicate the ethereal and transient, and serve to represent the one part of all humans that has no physical form. The transitional state of Oliver’s young ones beckons the viewer to be reminded of the light, even in the darkest of moments, and to embrace this beauty and its prospects.
Elements also introduces new content and medium to Oliver’s preexisting body of work. One can find two landscape paintings, four charcoal drawings and a new focus on the beauty of children with albinism in this series. This body of work is a form of acceptance for Oliver. The acknowledgment of the immortality of the human body through the recognition of the soul and tenet of rebirth is pivotal. Our essence is impermeable. There is more to our kind than what is visible to us in the physical realm and once we recognize this, the world is truly limitless.
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Stefano Alcantara
"Waqayñan"
July 12th – August 23rd, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 12th, 7 – 11pm
New York (July 12th, 2014) – Last Rites Gallery is pleased to present Waqayñan, new work by Stefano Alcantara, in what will be his first solo show at the gallery. Waqayñan will include 12 oil paintings and is an extremely personal body of work for Alcantara. Waqayñan translates to “a difficult and dangerous road” in Quechua, the language of the Incas. Alcantara who is part Inca, uses Waqayñan to title his paintings as a reflection and revisit of his journey through life and the lessons he has picked up along the way. They also serve to remind us that the whole world and all of its creatures are our home.
Alcantara was born and raised in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s during a time of extreme turbulence and bloodshed due to terrorist-communist guerilla warfare. In an attempt to keep him safe, Alcantara’s family moved far outside the city where this internal conflict was most active, providing him a childhood they hoped to be out of harm’s way. Despite this, the sound of bombs going off in the distance and perpetual power outages still shaped his childhood. As he came of age, he found inspiration from his grandfather, artist Jose Alcantara la Torre and recognized his own passion for creating art. At 32, Alcantara left his home country for the United States with the hope and optimism of the often thought of “land of opportunity”. Although Alcantara has been able to pursue his dream with success, it came at a price coupled with much hardship and strife. Living and working in New York City has given Alcantara much inspiration and opportunity but at the same time, kept him from his family and roots. The city has also exposed him to many of life’s adversities and the wickedness of mankind. Themes of greed, injustice and obsoleteness are present along with one’s reaction to such, in conditions such as loneliness, death, and the constant fight between good and evil. Ironically, such experiences are found all over the world and their exposure inevitable.
Some paintings in Waqayñan focus on a crucial moment in Alcantara’s life. Despite their specificity, they are experiences and memories extremely relatable to all of us. A young Alcantara gazes upward towards a brighter future in Playground, yet he stands before a bleak sky and a graveyard of damaged electrical transmission towers. Other work in this series use pivotal figures he has encountered throughout his life that have served as messengers of wisdom. Wise depicts an elderly man Alcantara met when he was recently able to return to Peru for the first time in years. The expressive face full of wrinkles and evocative eyes tells a tale of a seasoned life coupled with the knowledge and maturity only one of experience and age can harbor. Originally from France, this older man immigrated to Peru; Like Alcantara he has more than one home.
Paintings such as NYght Life, Cursed and Enlightened are metaphors used to describe poignant emotions and struggles one bears in life. NYght Life portrays a lone woman walking down the streets of Manhattan to express the solitude one can feel, no matter how many people may surround him or her. Cursed and Enlightened represents a recent event in which a gull and a crow attacked the two peace doves released by the Pope at the Vatican, and for Alcantara, symbolize the eternal battle between good and evil.
Alcantara uses paintings as a visual tool to share with others, his perspectives from life and its valuable lessons. With every stroke and its subsequent emotion, he contemplates his past and present with a more learned and habituated perspective. His focused choice of universal themes and a strong notion of a shared world create a sense of kinship and common ground that remind us that we are not alone.