BLOOM – SOLO EXHIBITION BY JORGE OSWALDO
LAUNCH LA is proud to present Bloom, a new solo exhibition by Jorge Oswaldo. Bloom is a playful exploration of the logo, its ability to convey information, and the means by which it can be recontextualized to create a work of art.
Oswaldo creates his ‘blooms’ by borrowing the logos of major corporations and replicating them in kaleidoscopic abundance, with smaller and smaller rings of logos falling in towards each flower’s heart. Superficially these works are about color and shape; but on closer inspection, each possesses great conceptual depth. Oswaldo believes that next to sales, ‘viral lifespan’ is the most important factor in a product’s success in our increasingly internet-dependent world. Logos play a pivotal role in the vitality of these products: “Our post-social media machine that we now call the internet celebrates ideas that are lean, quick and easily consumed and distributed.”
The familiar logos used by Oswaldo are mental shortcuts to brand and corporate identity. By turning them on their head, melding them together or changing their color, Oswaldo decontextualizes them just enough to reveal what they really are at heart: pleasing arrangements of color, line and shape. Some logos retain the integrity of their original message, others are transformed entirely. Oswaldo’s process divests them of their mystic ability to exist as graphical surrogates for products and their parent companies. These logos simply become oversized and expressive brush-strokes on his canvas. Though Oswaldo uses an automated process of his own devising to create his fractals, they communicate the power of art, transforming something ‘mathematically sterile’ into an object of abundant ‘organic human attraction’. Each of these blooms, like their component logos, are strikingly bright, bold and barely trichromatic. Their apparent simplicity, however, belies th e complexity of Oswaldo’s artistic process: his computerized vectors are brought to the canvas with self-adhesive vinyl, automotive paint, silk-screening and a plethora of other printing techniques.
Bloom is evidence that Oswaldo is a worthy successor to Andy Warhol’s knack for manipulating brand recognition to create brilliant works of pop-art. As Oswaldo puts it, brands and their products, just like flowers, “continually fold into themselves and are regenerative. They are calculated, they are seeded. They bloom and they die.”
Jorge was born in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1979. He earned a degree with a concentration in painting from Barat College of Depaul University in 2002. Jorge also earned a Master of Fine Arts degree (MFA) in Studio Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 2004. His creative efforts at that time centered on producing work in a digital medium, often within a video format. After moving to Los Angeles in 2005, Jorge simultaneously pursued a second career as a graphic artist. He presently splits his time as a full-time graphic designer for the streetwear giant Stüssy, producing web content, product, tee graphics, marketing assets and special collaborative projects. He also regularly submits digital designs & patterns to Skinit, Inc., the leader in technology personalization skins. His fine art works are produced in his studio in downtown Los Angeles. This is his first exhibition at LAUNCH LA.
LAUNCH is a not-for-profit social enterprise created in 2010 to produce, manage and direct events, programs and exhibitions for the purpose of developing artist – audience relationships throughout important Los Angeles communities. Passionate about promoting all contemporary art-forms and their hybrids, LAUNCH recognizes the need for exemplary productions that create important cultural happenings. With the assistance of commercial partners, cultural institutions and like-minded individuals and organizations, LAUNCH strives to engage a broad cross section of Angelenos in cultural events that foster mutual understanding and creative expression.
Contact, James Panozzo
