Ernest Concepcion: L.A. GUERRA

UNTITLED: ART PROJECTS Presents
ERNEST CONCEPCION
'L.A. GUERRA'
July 9-August 6, 2011

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 9, 2011
6-9pm

L.A. Guerra is an exhibition of new paintings that experiment with photo-based and landscape portraiture. I employ concepts of war in the process of their creation, charging at each painting with renderings of fantastical elements onto straightforward historical imagery, and intervening onto tranquil landscapes with drawn armies marching across the horizon.

My process is akin to a battle being waged on differing surfaces (paper vs. acetate), employing varied materials (pencil vs. sharpie) and divergent techniques (manga vs photorealism) to yield unexpected combatants (Norse Gods vs Filipino cryptids vs Nazi regiments). This springs from a child’s-view of a Philippine colonial past, in addition to an abiding obsession with Filipino, American, and Japanese visual culture, particularly comics, anime, and video games.

Compulsive patterns, lines and obsessive detail define my work, where tables battle chairs to compete with rednecks who fight aliens who squelch sasquatches who feast on campers. Sketches and doodles—the most rudimentary expression of visual thought—burgeon into wall-size ink drawings that traverse painting.

Recent work has me immersed in the world of enamel paint, a material most often associated with industrial production. I've spent the past year and a half with this substance to develop a haunting and powerful series of portraits of the mushroom cloud—the most powerful symbol of modern-man’s appetite for destruction.

ATTACK!

- Ernest Concepcion, June 21, 2011

Untitled: ArtProjects
2209 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90004