Artist of the Month: Salomen Huerta

Salomen Huerta, Untitled, 2000,  12’ ’ x 11 3/4” oil on canvas

Bodies in Space Explores, Dr. G dispatch:  April 2012 Artist of the Month: Salomen Huerta

When i first met Salmon Huerta, he was standing on a ladder lathering paint across a large mural at SPARC — a social activist gallery in Venice California.  Playing off the theme of the four horseman of the apocalypse, Huerta covered the mural with big bold strokes each filled with the drama of growing up in Los Angeles barrios!  Now, with nearly two decades of solo exhibitions under his belt, Huerta continues to explore imagery tethered to personal and cultural memory, again tackling symbolic and figurative representation on scales that mirror life as we know it.  Gone is the expressive brushwork, traded for the smooth, GQ fashion surfaces free of blemish or uneven application of paint.

Salomen Huerta, Untitled, 2000, 14” x 14” oil on canvas

And what Huerta’s handling of space?  In the artist’s own words:

“…. I create the size of the work according to the size of the gallery walls. I want the viewer to have a feeling of oneness. an overall physical and emotional experience. I want the viewer to be connected to the work as they are looking at it. I also think about the scale of the paintings  in proportion to the viewer.  When doing the work I think about the idea and then I feel my way into the size of the painting. This is my process in preparing paintings for a show. I think is like an installation artist preparing his work for a space….”

Salomen Huerta, Untitled, 2000.  68” x 48”   oil on canvas

Click here to learn more about Salomen Huerta’s thoughts on contemporary art, body awareness and self representation.

 

(Source: bodiesinspace.com)