Fabien Castanier Gallery is proud to present a solo exhibition for contemporary Mexican artist Carlos Jorge. This will be the first solo show for the artist at the gallery. Jorge will present new paintings on canvas and drawings, as well as accompanying sculptures. His large-scale works explore the limits of form, as he utilizes symbols from art history to create visions of a multi-layered world with a singularly unique perspective.

An artistic trend in the 17^th century found artists utilizing the styles of other artists by incorporating the literal representation of another’s art within their own. A painting of a scene in which the walls are covered with other paintings evoked a new conceptual avenue – that art comes from art and that image-making is inherently a dialogue with itself. Here, Carlos Jorge has developed a similar mode of expression, quoting artists such as Magritte, Van Gogh, Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Gauguin, in order to emphasize the referential nature of painting and its form. Incorporating motifs across his work that adorn articles of clothing, namely hats and shoes, Jorge tells his story in the details of a fantastical still-life.

“Selenophilia”, from the Greek meaning to love the moon, captures a contemporary surrealism, in which the moon plays protagonist. Rising within his compositions, the celestial body accompanies other symbols and signs that represent an abstraction of memory. Jorge employs vibrant color and masterful use of texture to highlight his visual references. Modern fashion collides with direct samples emblematic of art history’s greats. Accompanying each painting is a sculpture that acts as counterpoint to the canvas. Opening up his pieces to three-dimensions with sculptural representations of his shoes and hats, Jorge broadens the scope of the dialogue created within the painting’s space, encouraging a new and more dynamic perspective.

Carlos Jorge (b. 1970) studied at the International School of Art in Umbria, Italy, under such icons as Wayne Thiebaud and Knox Martin. He’s held exhibitions in Mexico and the U.S. since the early 1990s, and in 1997, his solo exhibition was awarded an Honorable Mention at the Seventh Biennial of Visual Arts in Mérida, Yucatán. His works are part of private and public collections, such as the Museum of the City of Mérida, Yucatán, in Mexico.