Untitled
2012
ink on rag paper
44.5 by 60 inches
Ronald Santos
New Drawings
April 14 - May 26
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 14th, 6-8pm
gallery km is very pleased to present Ronald Santos’ New Drawings in our east gallery. The exhibition will run from April 14 through May 26th, with a reception for the artist on April 14th, from 6-8pm.
Ronald Santos’ New Drawings is the gallery’s first solo show by the Los Angeles-based artist. His work was initially introduced at gallery km in the 2011 group show Follow The Physical. The exhibition will consist of works formed with colored pen on paper, ranging in size from 14 by 17 inches to 40 by 50 inches. Each piece is constructed of thousands of repeated colored lines, often in dense parallel formation with select moments of tense overlap.
The pieces appear machine-made at first glance, and require a closer investigation in order to recognize their organic patterning. It is only through subtle details such as small downward pen strokes and other slight variations, breaking the uniformity of direction and evenness of ink line, that Santos reveals the hand of the artist. Santos’ fidelity to paper as the medium for his work also offers the initial possibility of seeing the drawings as digital prints, while eventually insisting upon a medium associated with process rather than product. Santos’ intense visual field intends to invoke the insistence of emotion, while his technique pretends the precision and distance of digital language.
Ronald Santos graduated with an MFA in New Genre from Otis College of Art and Design in 2001, and has exhibited in group shows in Los Angeles at gallery km, George Billis Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Occidental College and the Hammer Museum, and had a recent solo show at Bert Green Fine Art in Los Angeles. His work has been written about in the Los Angeles Times, and Frieze Magazine, and he lives and works in Los Angeles.