April 20 - May 25, 2024
From Ivester Contemporary:
“In The World We Live In, Austin-based artist Jacob Guzman presents new paintings and drawings that respond to the social, political, economic, and environmental effects of urban development. In the wake of momentous social upheavals—migration, the COVID-19 pandemic, mass shootings, gentrification, widening income stratification, and housing unaffordability—the concept of ‘the city,’ its purpose, and its future has been called into question. The World We Live In explores many of these issues and considers how BIPOC individuals, under-resourced communities, and those facing economic hardships engage with their rapidly changing built-up surroundings.
Through anthropological and autobiographical lenses, Guzman embraces a ruminative and introspective approach to touch on situations and themes ranging from the sociopolitical to the deeply personal. Scenes of urban life in All Focused on Distractions (2024) and Boogie (2023) depict parallel universes of anxiety and leisure. The artist’s portrayals of nightlife with stylized figures, an array of diagonal lines, and heightened colors capture the precariousness and exuberance of city dwellers out on the town. The network of gestures and glances among the patrons draws attention to the various social interactions that animate the scenes. Taking compositional cues from diverse artistic traditions, including the Harlem Renaissance and the Old Masters, while playing with scale and perspective, Guzman offers a fresh, even fantastical, perspective of the city and the many facets of urban life—architecture, migration, commuting, crowds, noise, and lights.
The city and its evolving social fabric have been a rich source of inspiration to artists throughout history and remain so for Guzman. The artist’s sophisticated engagement with art history and urban environments is especially apparent in his empathetic works. However, he challenges utopic understandings of the city with his raw and unfiltered scenes of everyday urban life depicted in works like Street Scenes (2023). Enclosed by stucco and asphalt, with no signs of nature, Guzman compresses snippets of everyday life into an action-packed scene filled with tangles of vice and vitality. The multiplicity of Guzman’s vision in The World We Live In gives simultaneously distressing and enlivening views of the city’s past, present, and future.
-Phillip A. Townsend, Ph.D., Curator of Art, Art Galleries at Black Studies (AGBS) at The University of Texas at Austin”
Reception: April 20, 2024 | 7–9 pm
916 Springdale Rd Bldg 2, Suite 107 Austin, TX 78702
Austin, 78702 Texas
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