All images courtesy of Superchief Gallery and the artist
The imposing large-scale canvases of Esteban del Valle forcefully command attention to their political underpinnings. From gentrification and political corruption to contemporary colonialism, the artist’s latest collection of work titled Displacing Wavesemploys illustration and painting to convey powerful messages.The colorful canvases are beautifully provocative, drawing in the viewer for their size and allure of characters. In one a femalepeers through a wine looking glass while a handful of canvases follow men in suits in distorting and tyrannical situations. del Valle’s cutting illustrations anchor the storyline while his painterly palette creates sweeping motions often deemed poetic and brooding. We feel the depths of his angst and understand his inclination to formulate an artistic stance for his community and the world at large.
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In the artist statement he writes, "Rapidly, community after community is pushed aside to another corner of the city, safe for a moment. Ultimately, we are pushing and pulling in a fluid space, creating no solutions, but only violent movement. Just displacing waves."This body of work is on display at the Superchief Gallery in LA. The show is a culmination of seven months of traveling throughout the United States, from rural Alaska to New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. del Valle distills what he has heard and learned from those communities on canvas.
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