by Gregg Chadwick
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| Gregg Chadwick Flor De Asfalto (for Sergio Arau) 56”x86” oil on linen 2017 |
With his music, words and images, Sergio Arau has inspired me to create a series of paintings that feature him as the main character in my painted movies. Rock Star, actor, director, screenwriter, and artist Sergio Arau has often performed while wearing gear honoring Mexico's most famous wrestling star El Santo (The Man In the Silver Mask). Known as lucha libre, Mexican wrestlers such as El Santo are defenders of the poor and vulnerable. By taking on the persona of the Luchador (wrestler), Josh Kun writes in Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America, Sergio Arau and his bands have mixed "the traditional with the contemporary, the rural with the urban, the American with the Mexican, the charro with the rockero."
My paintings in Luchador's Dream carry Sergio Arau into a Los Angeles seemingly pulled from the lyrics of his songs or gathered from scenes of his films that were left on the cutting room floor.
Gracias Sergio!
The exhibition runs from September 7 - October 7, 2017
(Luchador's Dream is, in true rock n' roll fashion, a completely unaffiliated, and unofficial satellite exhibition of 2017: Año de México en Los Ángeles / Mexico in Los Angeles 2017)
What: Luchador’s Dream - Inspired by Sergio Arau (New Paintings by Gregg Chadwick)
Where: La Galería de la Cocina - Santa Monica Art Studios, 3026 Airport Ave. SM 90405
When: Opening - September 15, 2017, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Website: www.greggchadwick.com
