VLAFF Presents one of Mexico's Most Promising Young Painters

“Yuxtaposición/Juxtaposition” at the Ayden Gallery

Reception: Ayden Gallery in the International Village (formerly Tinseltown)

Friday, September 9 from 7pm – 11pm

Free admission. Cash bar. Artist in attendance

Sombre images of strangled teddy bears, decapitated puppets and armed angels combined with dark, gloomy colours are a defining characteristic of the latest exhibition by the Mexican painter José Luís Ramírez. “Juxtaposition” delivers what the name itself describes, a series that brings unlikely elements together and places them side by side, mixing rich colours, apocalyptic landscapes and iconic cartoon characters into an extraordinary and at times nightmarish proximity.

Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and Pluto are some of the film and television characters that populate this series. Like other interconnected forms of art, painting has influenced cinema on different levels. In this case, it is the reverse. The paintings in “Juxtaposition” critique the commercialization of the image by taking cartoon celebrities (most of which were created in the United States and that during the height of their popularity have brought in significant revenue) and situating them in wastelands and abandoned universes where their worth is called into question. In a recent phone interview, Ramírez discussed his motivation for the series. “I wanted to play with the concept of the toy as something innocent, and how at the same time, it can be seen as a symbol of commercialization and capitalism.”

A sweet little schoolgirl clutches a Pinocchio doll with a long nose, a symbol of lies. Irony and sarcasm are prevalent throughout these works.

With over ten years experience as a painter, Ramírez has been striving to support himself with the revenue generated from sales of his work. According to him, it is hard to achieve this stability in countries like Mexico where the work of artists is not well paid and where it is often difficult to obtain support and sponsorship from the government. Yet for Ramírez, commercial success, because of its nature, cannot be a primary focus of his career. “I work with what surrounds me and stay true to myself in order to feel at peace, even before thinking about what work could sell.”

Ramírez claims that his work is inspired by the reality of his daily life in Mexico to the point that he often uses friends and neighbours as characters. As for how this particular series evolved, he says, “I am a fan of the news. I am always reading about social issues and current events and the idea for ‘Juxtaposition’ first came from watching a clip about how Vancouver is a role model for other cities. I then looked around at my city (Durango) which appeared the opposite: overpopulated, with high rates of unemployment, poor quality of life and a lack of education and culture.”

Ramírez created this series of paintings specifically for this Vancouver exhibition. Inspired by the moving images of cinema, he looked to the heroes of children’s cartoons to question: What is the value of what we have created? By juxtaposing apparently sweet and innocent images with a distressing and melancholic chaos inspired by his surroundings, Ramírez’s exhibition holds an underlying commentary for “model” cities like Vancouver. His observations suggest that when everything is apparently meant to be nice and orderly, “All that glitters is not gold.”

A world where everything is clean and perfect like that of cartoons or “model” cities is strange to him, far from his reality. He concludes, “If I were living in a city like Vancouver my paintings would probably consist of straight lines or light colours, not be as chaotic or dark as they are now.” Or would they?

The exhibition, “Juxtaposition,” will be part of the ninth edition of the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival.