Lowell Ryan Projects presents “Este es mi mundo. ¡Entra! (This is My World. Come in!),” a solo-exhibition by the Puerto Rican artist José Luis Vargas (b. 1965, Puerto Rico).

The show will feature nine of his large-scale free hanging, hand-painted circus banners (painted over in mixed media) as well as two of his shopping cart assemblages. Centering his practice on found objects, Vargas plays off of the physicality, legacy, and symbolism of artifacts to create what the artist himself calls a “constellation for myth-making.” With these materials he has constructed a familiar yet strange realm; his work manifests the kind of part historical, part fictive universe for which only the imagination can play host.

Though for Vargas, the line between history and fiction is not so clear. He roots his artistic approach in a humanistic belief system––one that creates room for and gives credence to alternative narratives. Taking the world as a point of reference (from his time living in locations such as New York, London, Mexico City, Spain and Switzerland) has laid bare the constructedness of culture and history. That kind of thinking can be a form of creative empowerment; it relegates every story (even one as seemingly objective as history) into the realm of the subjective, thereby leaving open the possibility for each of us to write our own personal histories.

September 12 – October 24, 2020; Call the gallery to make an appointment;

What: “Este es mi mundo. ¡Entra! (This is My World. Come in!)”
Where: Lowell Ryan Projects, 4851 West Adams Blvd., LA, 90016
Phone: 323 998 0063 
Website: https://www.lowellryanprojects.com/