April 22 through May 13, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 22, 6-9 pm
Bermudez Projects is very excited to announce No Parking on PalomaresBLVD, the debut solo exhibition by its newest artist, Francisco Palomares, one of today’s most exciting emerging Chicano artists. At the opening, we’ll also be toasting the acquisition of a Palomares artwork by today’s most prominent champion of Chicano art.
In No Parking on PalomaresBLVD, the East LA-based Palomares takes you for a ride through his creative world, summoning memories of running errands with his mom years ago, when they’d laugh at how similar Olympic Blvd was to a street in Mexico. As Francisco puts it, “PalomaresBLVD is a street of immigrants, artists, and Latino businesses. We hear cumbias, norteños, banda, hip hop, rock en español, and jazz. We see scenes that are a reflection of my youth — diverse, eager, and artistic, with a Downtown LA backdrop.”
The exhibition – featuring over a dozen street scenes, portraits, and still-lifes – comes as Bermudez Projects celebrates Cheech Marin’s acquisition of Francisco’s oil on canvas painting Agárrate Papa (2022). Marin is of course the namesake of The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum and has done more than anyone to raise the profile of Chicano artists, so we are deeply appreciative and honored. We thank Cheech for supporting Francisco and his work! And, a special thanks to Melissa Richardson Banks of CauseConnect for facilitating this acquisition.
“It’s obvious that Francisco loves the East LA neighborhood he grew up in. This love and respect are evident in the way he captures the people, places, and symbolic objects that have become fixtures in his life,” says gallerist Julian Bermudez. “There’s a vibrancy and authenticity of spirit that comes through in his paintings.”
For example, in Alameda St, Francisco creates a stunning rendition of the wall across from Little Tokyo where street artists have turned a bland building into a kaleidoscope of color, as if a piñata exploded. Merry’s Flowers perfectly captures the beauty and absurdity of the Flower Market … like a flower growing out of a cracked sidewalk. And, the mysterious magic of tarot reading in Brujo Mayor beckons you to enter its doors.
Three of downtown’s denizens are shown in detailed oils. And, we get a signature Palomares piñata, but this time – in La Piñata va a la China – the papier-mâché unicorn poses coyly in front of a Chinese temple.
Francisco says, “My paintings of piñatas is exporting my culture out of my East LA neighborhood into the white walls of America. My prize possession are piñatas, these inexpensive papel de china, glue, and cardboard hold so much cultural symbolism inside.”
In addition to his paintings, Francisco’s Fresh Painting – an art installation/gallery/performance space commenting on the resilience and ingenuity of street vendors – will be on site within the gallery and activated during the run of the exhibition.
Francisco Javier Palomares (b. 1990) is an emerging contemporary artist based in Los Angeles, California. His studio – PalomaresBLVD – is his creative playground of a reimagined LA city street, filled with colorful storefronts, eclectic street vendors, pastel-hued pan dulce, and fanciful piñatas purposefully placed amidst incongruent 18th century European-inspired landscapes. Combining elements of his own life, historical narratives, and today’s social challenges, Palomares invites his viewers to step onto the stage with him in storytelling.
Palomares studied the fundamentals of drawing and painting at Ryman Arts School from 2005-2007. In 2014, he earned his BFA in Drawing and Painting from California State University, Long Beach. His work has been included in a number of group exhibits, including Piñatas: The High Art of Celebration at Craft in America; Chicano Film Festival at Plaza de La Raza; and Light and Lively at Ave 50 Studio. Recent press coverage includes article and profiles in The Los Angeles Times, La Opinion, Voyage LA, Fabrik Online, LA Weekly, and Telemundo. The artist lives and works in Los Angeles.