Local artist Norberto Gomez Jr.‘s latest exhibition, The Occult Nature of Style, will premiere at Gallery A with an opening reception on Thursday, May 16, from 5 to 9 PM. Gomez describes the opening reception as “an inter-geographic rite of style,” and has asked patrons of the exhibit to come wearing black, preferring jeans and t-shirts.
Local artist Norberto Gomez Jr.‘s latest exhibition, The Occult Nature of Style, will premiere at Gallery A with an opening reception on Thursday, May 16, from 5 to 9 PM. Gomez describes the opening reception as “an inter-geographic rite of style,” and has asked patrons of the exhibit to come wearing black, preferring jeans and t-shirts. The exhibit is undoubtedly macabre in nature, with Gomez describing his show as having “very dark hued ghosts, there and not there.”
“30 Weight Denim with Skull”, 2013, acrylic on canvas 48″ x 36″ (detail)
He claims these works, which include “three new works of Rothskulls, along with a collection of mutual magik” will invoke and, hopefully, “raise the ghost” of late Abstract Expressionist artist, Mark Rothko. Latino influence will be apparent in the piece, where “traditional Depression era Tejano accordion & oompahs,” in addition to Gregorian chants, will foster what Gomez calls “death scenes which look outside your island.”
Originally from Houston, Gomez hopes that this exhibit will be able to “merge the scenes of Richmond and Houston.” The exhibit at Gallery A has potential to further increase exposure of other Latino artists here in Richmond, where the Latin American population has grown to over 46,000.
Gomez is already an established local artist, whose Forty-Five New Drawings and One Moving Picture (Regarding Influence + Cannibalism + Friendship) was displayed in February and March of this year in the Latino-centric Galeria Movimiento, a bus-based mobile art gallery operated by the Virginia Center For Latin American Art (VACLAA). Gomez’s Galeria Movimiento exhibition, which premiered during February’s First Friday Art Walk, also featured themes of a macabre nature. Speaking to Spencer L. Turner of the VACLAA, Gomez explained the theme of Forty-Five New Drawings and One Moving Picture by saying, “I can only think there must be a relationship between cannibalism and friendship. There could be a mystical, spiritual idea about consuming a friend.”
Some may also recognize Gomez’s artwork in familiar locations, such as the bathrooms at Strange Matter, having painted over their walls last January with violent, abstract images of mouths. While Gomez’s works at Galería Movimiento and Strange Matter have both had focuses on cannibalism, he says this new show is intended to suggest “a new interpretation of time + space, which is actually just their return and our acknowledgment of them.”
Gomez certainly fits a niche in the art and music community here in Richmond, mentioning on the event’s Facebook page that the only other art forms he’s found that express a similarly new interpretation of time and space are certain subgenres of metal–doom, drone, and to a lesser extent, death metal. Admiration for these types of extreme music means that Gomez should fit right in with certain segments of the Richmond scene, which should likewise appreciate his latest exhibition.
The Occult Nature Of Style opens with a reception on Thursday, May 16 from 5 to 9 PM at Gallery A, located at 114-A Virginia St in Shockoe Bottom. The work will remain on display through June 29. For more information, check out the facebook event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/156379407871479
