On Friday, July 29, 2011 from 6 P.M. to 11 P.M., La Llorona Art Gallery willopen an exhibition entitled

“SPUNKY FUNKY”

The exhibition of twenty-nine ink drawings features the work of two of the most well known Lowbrow artists: Diana Solis and Alfredo Matus.

The exhibition is a showcase for a diversity of commercial graffiti symbols depicting modern life in a global, capitalistic market.  Drinking tea from India with French cookies; dressing in Neo New Zealand or Pakistani clothing; using an Italian cell phone; working on a Japanese computer - to having a Mexican cactus or a Hawaiian fern; an African mask or a German poster in your living room - to enjoying tango, raggae or techno - these are all now common experiences in our daily lives.  We are bombarded by images and objects from different cultures and time periods, and our collective imagination stores, processes and affects our lives as we live in this very dynamic international market.

Like in the old days of the first big store catalogues with photographs and print images from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Centuries that promoted an infinite number of products, novelties and modern gadgets, this series of ink drawings on paper began with the intention of being the post modern interpretation of those objects, wording and images that were realized with the beginning of the 21st Century. 

Inserted within the realm of Lowbrow art or pop surrealism, this project, derived from combining figures from diverse eras, builds exquisite surrealistic cadavers that generate a species of monsters and fantastic atmospheres, which are mixed with texts and phrases found in the Mexican street graffiti and billboards that is the most rudimentary, but far from the simplest, form of publicity and advertising.

In summary, absurd games and chaos in communion with diversity and festivity, together turn to be a key to interpreting this work that often is a tragicomedy and that in its heart tries to reveal the reality of Mexican life - always vibrant, ludicrous and full of contrasts.

Diana Solís was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1997.  Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States, including Mexico, Spain and Germany.  Ms. Solís lives in Chicago and works as an artist-in-residence in Chicago Public Schools and in community-based after school programs in conjunction with Pros Arts Studio where she holds a position as a visual artist. 

Alfredo Matus was born in Mexico City, Mexico.  He studied Painting at the E.N.P.E.G. La Esmeralda and then received a degree in Sociology from the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana.  He has received numerous awards and prizes as an artist, art promoter and gallery director.  He is currently the director of the Galeria Jose Maria Velasco in Mexico City.

Gallery hours: Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 5:30  pm.  Exhibition will run from Friday July 29th -  to Friday August 12th 2011.

From the beginning to the present works of Delilah Montoya, a Chicano artist, La Llorona brings to Chicago a “Retrospective” exhibition. These 22 works have been composed from the Guadalupe series to the Border series. This is an opportunity to review in one space Delilah Montoya’s cultural history, memory, and identity through photographs in Chicago knowing that the Chicano Movement is still very strong and very still alive. Delilah Montoya’s photographs picture people and places where the real gets magical and the magical gets real. The Latin American community in the United States starts at the border of Mexico and the United States and gets roots in the rough life where Delilah pictures them in prisons, boxing matches, and Sagrado Corazon. “Interpreted as an alternative to the mainstream, stands as a personal statement that evokes an identity. I aspire to originate the artist's voice," states Delilah Montoya. Her images range from large, colorful photographs to intriguing assemblages comprised of gauche, printing and photography.

“Born in Fort Worth and raised in Nebraska with deep roots in northern New Mexico, my work explores the lived reality of the Mexican American community. Working in a variety of photographic and printing processes as well as creating multimedia installations I aim to generate conversations that are densely textured and provocatively layered with aesthetic, spiritual, and political meaning” states Delilah.

Delilah Montoya received her B.A. in Studio Art from the University of New Mexico, and received her Associates Degree in Commercial Photography and Art from the Metropolitan Technical College in Omaha.