GUSTAVO ACOSTA TRANSPOSITIONS
Cover: Shades and Makeup, 2019 acrylic on canvas, 19 x 39 inches
GUSTAVO ACOSTA TRANSPOSITIONS June 22 - August 17, 2019
2525 Michigan Avenue E2 Santa Monica
CA 90404
t.310.829.4455 www.latinamericanmasters.com
Latin American Masters is pleased to present Transpositions, recent paintings by Gustavo Acosta. Acosta’s paintings have always reflected his fascination with architecture. What gives Acosta’s recent paintings their vitality is the evolution of his architectural forms towards their essential, elemental geometry. Transpositions features twelve paintings, many of which have a segmented, splitscreen structure. Their imagery is the product of a denatured, electronically mediated world. Dystopian critiques aside, these paintings have a formal power that can be traced to their geometric construction. Characteristic of the series is a large canvas from 2019, Trophy, which features a low-angle view of a freestanding diving board. The surrounding sky is a luminous construction of pixel-like squares. Curiously, Acosta’s sky seems more real than the platform it surrounds. In its order and precision, Acosta’s geometry offers a counterpoint to the grim realities of his timeworn urban landscape. Art historian Donald Kuspit observes, “The shadow that haunts Acosta’s worldly cities suggests they are illusions-theatrical illusions which people mistake for reality.” Given Acosta’s personal history: experiencing the idealism of post-revolutionary Cuba and the inequities and oppression that followed, it is not surprising that Acosta’s work reflects a knowing skepticism. His paintings seem to question the viewer, silently asking: “What do you see? Are you sure? Look again?” Gustavo Acosta’s recent exhibitions include: Thomas Jaeckel Gallery, New York (Essay by Donald Kuspit); Caixa Cultural, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Wifredo Lam Center of Contemporary Art, Havana, Cuba; Centro Vasco de Arte Contemporaneo, Vitoria, Spain; Carrillo Gil Museum of Art, Mexico City. Mexico; USC Fisher Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany, among others.
M i n d Ga mes I, 2 0 1 8 , a cryl i c on canvas, 36 x 36 i nches
N o r t h ern Li g h t s, 2 0 1 9 , acryl i c on canvas, 31 x 31 i nches
Th e Tr a n sp osed T a l es II, 2 0 19, acryl i c on canvas, 60 x 60 i nches
The Tr a n sp osed T a l es I, 2 0 19, acryl i c on canvas, 60 x 60 i nches
Th e Tr a vel Gu i d e, 2 0 1 8 , acryl i c on canvas, 62 x 78 i nches
Tr a v e l i n g N ort h , 2 0 1 9 , acryl i c on canvas, 50 x 66 i nches
U n i verse, 2 0 1 8 , a cr yl i c on canvas, 62 x 78 i nches
Trop h y, 2 0 1 9 , a cr y l i c on canvas, 78 x 62 i nches
Sh a d e s a nd Ma keu p , 2 0 1 9 , a cryl i c on canvas, 19 x 39 i nches
L ab T est V, 2 0 1 9 , acr yl i c on canvas, 21 x 26 i nches
O v erexp osed , 2 0 1 9 , acryl i c on canvas, 54 x 95 i nches
T h e B a c k y ard , 2018, acrylic on canvas, 50 x 96 inches
2525 Michigan Avenue E2 Santa Monica
CA 90404
t.310.829.4455 www.latinamericanmasters.com