Art on Campus - Nery Gabriel Lemus
CAPS SMALL ART COLLECTION
NERY GABRIEL LEMUS
Immigrant Landscape #2, 2017
Nery Gabriel Lemus
Watercolor on Paper
17.5 x 23.5 inches
Location: Social Sciences Building, Third Floor
As an artist and social worker, Nery Gabriel Lemus’ projects have tended to be inspired by intrapersonal interactions between people. For example, one notable series focused on the influence, both positive and negative, adult men have over young boys, either within families or simply as role models within society. A number of other projects have addressed the divisions that exist between Latinos and African-Americans in Los Angeles, not with the intent to provide a solution to the polemic, but rather simply to engage in a critical discussion that points to mutual and overlapping activities, reflecting a shared practice that might, through acknowledgement, absorb the acrimonious relationship between both tribes. The artist’s most recent project explores immigration through the lens of The New Colossus, a sonnet originally written by American poet Emma Lazarus in 1883 to raise money for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. The sonnet depicts a mighty woman that lights the way for refugees and immigrants seeking shelter - it highlights her desire to embrace such individuals as a mother would her children; Lazarus calls her the “Mother of Exiles.” Part of this latest project, titled Immigrant Landscape, explores the terrain that immigrants traverse on their journey(s) to the United States through a series of highly detailed watercolor paintings of desert landscapes and non-descript rooms. At first glance, the paintings seem to depict barren images of desert lands and empty space, but upon closer observation, the images reveal key phrases from the Emma Lazarus poem.
Nery Gabriel Lemus was born in Los Angeles, in 1977. The subjects in his work range from issues of stereotype and immigration to problems in society that can lead to the failure of families, such as poverty, abuse and neglect. Lemus received his BFA at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California (2007) and his MFA at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California (2009). Lemus also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine (2008). His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA; The Bindery Projects, Minneapolis, MN; Project Row Houses, Houston, TX. Group exhibitions include, Fútbol: The Beautiful Game, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Made in L.A. 2012, organized by the Hammer Museum in collaboration with LAXART, Los Angeles, CA; dia a dia/ day by day, The 9.99 Gallery, Guatemala City, Guatemala; OZ: New Offerings From Angel City, Museo Regional Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico; 2010 Border Art Biennial, El Paso Museum, El Paso, Texas; Common Ground, California African-American Museum, Los Angeles, CA and exhibitions at the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA; Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA; Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA; Centro Cultural Paseo del Norte, Chihuahua, Mexico and the Centro Cultural Tijuana, Tijuana, Mexico, among others. He is a recipient of a California Community Foundation Fellowship, a COLA Fellowship Grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles, and the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Fellowship Award. He is represented by Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles.
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