Guerrero - Sonsini
In March 1974, Cirrus Gallery gave Raul Guerrero his first solo show at 708 Manhattan Place, in what is now considered the Melrose Hill neighborhood of Hollywood. At the time, Guerrero was executing his ideas within a conceptualist framework. The show included a large inverted pyramid, an indigenous mask, and flutes made from bones. Since that time, Guerrero has spent his life dedicated to his work. Although the surface appearance of Guerrero’s work has shifted from these early years, his convictions remain the same. His recent solo show at David Kordansky Gallery in New York featured many large scale paintings.
For these prints, Guerrero has elaborated on the idea of the postcard, referencing pre-colombian artifacts alongside allusions to Brancusi, Man Ray, and Magritte. Guerrero has made work informed by his experiences navigating cultures as an American of Mexican ancestry in Southern California. His work depicts—and critiques—colonial narratives in the Americas such as the settlement of the Great Plains, the history of Latin America, and imposed notions of the American “West.” With compositions fusing Mexican, American, and European visual traditions, he incorporates influences ranging from the readymades of Marcel Duchamp to conceptually-oriented practices associated with a preceding generation of California artists (including John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha) who emerged from Guerrero’s alma mater, the Chouinard Art Institute.
John Sonsini (b. 1950) is a painter based in Los Angeles, who over the last 40 years has established himself as one of the foremost portrait painters of his generation. His best known work is portraits of Latino day laborers, where Sonsini offers his subjects their unsual wage in exchange for sitting for the paintings. He has also made work based on gay male erotica. In his most recent work created during and after the pandemic, Sonsini has turned his attention towards the still life. His new work focuses on the materials he uses. "I identify with the materials. That's who I am, a painter." says Sonsini. John Sonsini was born in Rome, NY and grew up in the San Fernando Valley around North Hollywood. He received his BA from California State University Northridge in 1975. Known for his dexterous use of oil paint, Sonsini is renowned for his portraits of men painted directly from life capturing his sitter’s physical and psychological presence.