Salomón Huerta

Salomón Huerta is perhaps best known for his series of paintings depicting anonymous subjects who sit or stand with their backs to the viewers. These were followed by paintings of the facades of unassuming suburban homes stripped of individuality, then, larger than life-sized masked lucha libre wrestlers. Rather than working serially on a single subject, Huerta takes cues from his environment and relationships as points of departure. He continues to work in representational painting – primarily portraiture – distilling elements of classicism with a modern social and cultural scrutiny. While his distinct bodies of work can be linked through their shared investigations and considerations of identity, his work remains engaged in a delicate balance between rich color and strong brushwork and an unassuming intimacy that provokes self-reflexivity in its viewers. These paintings emphasize his skill as a draftsman with an unwavering commitment to the medium and history of painting and a savvy comprehension of the trappings inherent in portraiture.

Huerta lives and works in Los Angeles. He has been honored with a solo exhibition at Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX and his work has been shown in the 2000 Whitney Biennial, NY; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA and the Santa Monica Museum of Art, CA. Huerta’s work is in the collections of such institutions as Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA and Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA, among others.

Submitted by Christopher Grimes Projects