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Installation view
I’m Missing, 2022
Photograph by WhiteBalanceMX

Kenny Rivero I’m Missing

Morán Morán is pleased to announce Kenny Rivero’s exhibition titled I’m Missing, presenting a series of new paintings alongside a selection of drawings, which continues the artist’s characteristic aesthetic and his own format of storytelling. Rivero has a particular style and a way of rendering imagery that starkly arranges ambiguous scenes that read as dreamlike and provocative. These works index moments of his life, synthesizing ideas that are certainly personal, referencing childhood topics to present day realities.

Even as containers of a personal history, his paintings and drawings can feel relatable and universal. They are born from a meditative and reflective process that Rivero delves into as he channels his ancestry in tandem with considering his own mortality. His naive approach to image making is purposefully vulnerable or playful, so that the historical unpacking is an embrace of experience while also serving as an exercise in being present. Through layers of medium and offbeat combinations of subjects, the artist embeds information, imbued with atmospheric and moody colors and lighting, setting a mysterious stage.

The works in this exhibition are concerned with themes of self exile, separation, and alienation. Rivero executed this series of paintings away from home, in a new and unfamiliar environment, which amplified his overall sense of isolation. Through some measures of directness mixed with abstraction, the artist confronts his struggles with loneliness. In the painting titled I’m Missing (2021), after which the exhibition is titled, a solitary nude figure in sneakers stands in a blank and sunny space, covered by a semi-sheer cloth that appears like a section of midnight has fallen directly from the sky, draping him in a dark net and constellation of stars.

As the clues to his narratives unfold through this melding of cryptic symbolism and vacillating legibility, a portal opens to reveal a place that is somewhere between the familiarity of the inner-city and a nebulous metaphysical realm. Rivero’s charged works are an exploration of mark-making, with strong roots in line and contour; but, they are also an experiment in composition, as he searches for a cadence and metering of images to express his stories without telling too much or canceling out our imagination.

Kenny Rivero (b. 1981) lives and works in New York, NY. He received his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale in 2012, and a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2006. He has had exhibitions at the Momentary at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AK; Brattleboro Museum & Art Center;Brattleboro, VT; Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey; the Stedelijk Museum, Netherlands; the Contemporary Art Museum, MO; the Pérez Art Museum, FL; and El Museo del Barrio, NY. Rivero’s work is in public collections at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; El Museo del Barrio, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Collection of Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida.


Morán Morán se complace en anunciar la exposición de Kenny Rivero titulada I’m Missing. En esta se presentan una serie de pinturas nuevas, junto con una selección de dibujos, que continúan con la estética y formato narrativo propios del artista. El característico estilo de Rivero sale a relucir en la forma de plasmar las imágenes que ordena con crudeza en escenas ambiguas que se leen como oníricas y provocativas. Las obras registran momentos de su vida, sintetizando ideas que son ciertamente personales, haciendo referencia a temas de infancia hasta realidades actuales.

Incluso como contenedoras de su historia personal, sus pinturas y dibujos se sienten relacionables y universales. Nacen de un proceso meditativo y reflexivo en el que Rivero profundiza mientras canaliza su ascendencia y considera su propia mortalidad. Su ingenuo enfoque en la creación de imágenes es intencionadamente vulnerable o lúdico, de modo que el desentrañamiento histórico es un abrazo a la experiencia, a la vez que sirve de ejercicio para estar presente. A través de capas de medios y excéntricas combinaciones temáticas, el artista incorpora información, impregnada de colores e iluminación atmosféricos y malhumorados, que crean un escenario misterioso.

Las obras de esta exposición giran en torno a temas de autoexilio, separación y alienación. Rivero ejecutó esta serie de pinturas lejos de casa, en un entorno nuevo y desconocido, lo que amplificó su sensación general de aislamiento. Con algunas medidas de franqueza mezcladas con abstracción, el artista confronta sus luchas con la soledad. En la pintura titulada I’m Missing (2021), que da nombre a la exposición, una figura solitaria y desnuda usando solo zapatillas de deporte se encuentra en un espacio blanco y soleado, cubierta por una tela semitransparente; pareciera que una porción de la medianoche hubiera caído directamente del cielo, envolviéndolo con una red oscura y una constelación de estrellas.

A medida que las pistas de sus narrativas se despliegan a través de esta mezcla de simbolismo críptico y legibilidad vacilante, se abre un portal que revela un lugar que se encuentra entre la familiaridad del centro de la ciudad y un reino metafísico nebuloso. Las obras cargadas de Rivero son una exploración de su expresión plástica, con fuertes raíces en la línea y el contorno; pero también son un experimento de composición, ya que busca una cadencia y una medición de imágenes para expresar sus historias sin contar demasiado ni anular nuestra imaginación.

Kenny Rivero (n. 1981) vive y trabaja en Nueva York, NY. Recibió su MFA en Pintura y Grabado de Yale en 2012 y un BFA de la Escuela de Artes Visuales en 2006. Ha tenido exposiciones en el Momentary en Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AK; Museo y Centro de Arte de Brattleboro, Brattleboro, VT; Museo Pera, Estambul, Turquía; el Museo Stedelijk, Países Bajos; el Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, MO; el Museo de Arte Pérez, FL; y El Museo del Barrio, NY. El trabajo de Rivero se encuentra en colecciones públicas en The Studio Museum en Harlem, Nueva York; El Museo del Barrio, Nueva York; el Museo Whitney de Arte Americano, Nueva York; Colección de la Biblioteca Thomas J. Watson, Museo Metropolitano de Arte, Nueva York; y Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida.

Dates

February 08 - March 05, 2022

Opening Reception

Tuesday, February 8, 6-8pm

Location

AV. HORACIO 1022, POLANCO
MIGUEL HIDALGO 11550
CIUDAD DE MÉXICO

Artist

Kenny Rivero

Installation Views

All images: I’m Missing, 2022, installation views. Photography courtesy of WhiteBalance MX

Installation view
I’m Missing, 2022
Photograph by WhiteBalanceMX

Installation view
I’m Missing, 2022
Photograph by WhiteBalanceMX

Installation view
I’m Missing, 2022
Photograph by WhiteBalanceMX

Installation view
I’m Missing, 2022
Photograph by WhiteBalanceMX

Installation view
I’m Missing, 2022
Photograph by WhiteBalanceMX

Installation view
I’m Missing, 2022
Photograph by WhiteBalanceMX

Installation view
I’m Missing, 2022
Photograph by WhiteBalanceMX

Installation view
I’m Missing, 2022
Photograph by WhiteBalanceMX

Installation view
I’m Missing, 2022
Photograph by WhiteBalanceMX

Artworks

Kenny Rivero
I’m Missing, 2022
Oil, acrylic, and vinyl paint on linen
60 x 70 inches
(153 x 178 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich

Kenny Rivero
Offering, 2022
Oil, acrylic, and vinyl paint on linen
60 x 70 inches
(153 x 178 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich

Kenny Rivero
Probable 10th, 2022
Oil, acrylic, and vinyl paint on linen
60 x 70 inches
(153 x 178 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich

Kenny Rivero
Limpieza, 2022
Oil, acrylic, and vinyl paint on linen
60 x 70 inches
(153 x 178 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich

Kenny Rivero
I’ll Save You The First Swim (I also want to save Macbeth for you), 2022
Oil, acrylic, and vinyl paint on linen
60 x 70 inches
(153 x 178 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich

Kenny Rivero
Air Bachata, 2022
Oil, acrylic, and vinyl paint on linen
60 x 70 inches
(153 x 178 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich

Kenny Rivero
Blue Cop, 2022
Oil on can
8 x 8 inches
(20.3 x 20.3 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich

Kenny Rivero
Edifice, 2022
Oil acrylic and vinyl paint on linen
8 x 8 inches
(20.3 x 20.3 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich

Kenny Rivero
Hussein, 2020
Graphite on paper
8 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches
(21.6 x 21.6 x 3.8 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich

Kenny Rivero
Untitled, 2018-2020
Graphite on reclaimed paper
12 7/8 x 10 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches
(32.7 x 26.7 x 3.8 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich

Kenny Rivero
Hand in Field, 2015-2020
Oil and graphite on paper
13 x 11 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches
(33 x 29.8 x 3.8 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich

Kenny Rivero
No One, On One, 2017-2020
Graphite and ballpoint pen on reclaimed paper
13 x 16 x 1 1/2 inches
(33 x 40.6 x 3.8 cm)
Photograph by Adam Reich