Apr 05, 2019

The Reality of Illusions - Tiffany Liu, Sergio Jauregui, Jen Tong, Albert Reyes at GR2

Tiffany Liu, Sergio Jauregui, Jen Tong, Albert Reyes

Reception: Sat. April 20th 6:30-10pm

Show Duration: Apr 20th, 2019 - May 8th, 2019

Jen Tong is a San Francisco native, she currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. She's done printmaking for over 10 years and she has painted for almost all her life. She is obsessed with food. You can follow all of her exploits on her instagram. She's exhibited her work nationwide. She graduated from School of Visual Arts in NY for cartooning.

Sergio Jauregui is not interested in “larger than life” – he instead finds inspiration in a rusty “paleta”/popsicle cart or an abandoned motel sign. “The city changes without us noticing. People leave a footprint on everything they touch. Something as miniscule as a fingerprint adds to an object’s character and appeal.” Jauregui shines a spotlight on these often overlooked objects by creating miniatures of them in meticulous, awe-inspiring detail.

Born in Guatemala, Jauregui immigrated to Los Angeles with his family when he was seven years old and has been creating art ever since he can remember. He formalized his art education by studying set and exhibit design at the Art Institute of Hollywood, where he further explored miniature model-making. Since then, he has been immersed in creating “that, but smaller.”

Tiffany Liu

A confessed exemplar of the Peter Pan Syndrome, and happily ensconced in a personal “Never-Neverland,” Liu has never lost her childlike spirit. The artist estimates that approximately 50% of her waking existence has been spent in “one big daydream.” Liu’s work reflects the visions and fantasies of her imagination. Her canvas is her playground. A wash in rainbow hues and populated with a veritable circus of cute (and freaky) creatures, her candy-colored acrylic paintings are at once strangely familiar (they reference the visual style of vintage storybooks, board game graphics, and nursery décor), and oddly jarring in their often audacious and mysterious subject matter. Liu’s are booby-trapped images wherein things are seldom as they seem, and there are often disturbing—and disturbingly humorous—complexities lying just below their colorful surfaces.

Tiffany has been teaching art to small children for over 10 years. These youngsters have given her great insight to the narrative themes of her paintings. Her Fine Art and Pop influences include Surrealism, Gothic Art, Folk Art, and vintage Little Golden Books, but she feels her greatest inspiration comes from her students. “A child’s perception of the world is a great thing,” says Liu. “When they draw they interact within their drawings like an organic, growing story. They follow their gut instincts, with a no-holds-barred uninhibited approach to art-making.”She continues, “They sometimes don’t even consider their work ‘art;’ for them, it’s a lot more like playtime. I am fascinated by their development; not only on an aesthetic level, but also on a subconscious psychological level. When they draw it’s this big rainstorm of thoughts, emotions, and ideas. They are my little heroes.”

Liu’s vision of childhood reflects a reality in which things often go awry—but in the most playful and colorful way. If some works hint at sexual awakening tinged with corruption and consumption, others treat themes of a search for love with sweet subtlety, humor and mystery. Liu’s non-stop visual invention and the fecundity of her imagination are staggering. She fills her paintings with visual puns, and even double-puns. The magical, floating, colorful artistic world of Tiffany Liu is one you’ll want to visit again and again

Los Angeles-based artist Albert Reyes has a distinctive style inspired by the juxtaposition of pop culture and classical high art. After graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2001, his works have run the gamut from illustrations on recycled hardcover book covers to an elaborate maze built annually behind his house in El Sereno, CA. Reyes often incorporates real world elements in his work, with topics ranging from Hollywood icons to consumerism. His work has shown across the world, appearing in galleries from Paris to the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. Reyes has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and CNN.