Lorena Morales: Pathway to Nowhere or Anywhere / Lauren Salazar: Togetherness Undone

Hooks-Epstein Galleries is proud to present two solo exhibitions by Lorena Morales and Lauren Salazar. The exhibitions open at 11:00am on Saturday, May 21, 2016 and are followed by a reception for the artists from 5:00 to 7:00pm, with a conversation with the artists at 4:00pm. The exhibitions continue through Friday, July 1, 2016.

Lorena Morales’ exhibition focuses on the concept of “home”.  She was born and raised in Venezuela, and after living in the U.S. for 12 years, she recently became a U.S. citizen.  Since becoming a citizen, it has changed her perception of home – is home where she lives or where she is from?

In Pathway to Nowhere or Anywhere, Lorena’s emotions and memories, from her homeland and her adopted home, intersect and become abstract; nostalgia is contrasted with joy and expectations.  By painting various colors on plexiglass and paper, and playing with light with colored acetate, she explores these intersections and narratives related to her new, mixed cultural identity.

Lorena Morales studied painting and sculpture at The Glassell School of Art in Houston, TX.  In 2011, she was invited by The Glassell School of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Carlos Cruz-Diez Foundation, of Paris, France, to participate in a seminar in Contemporary Art at Glassell.  In 2015, Lorena was invited to participate in SITE Houston at the Silos on Sawyer.  SITE Houston was an exhibition, transforming the honeycombed footprint of thirty-four renovated grain silos into a site-specific contemporary art installation.  Lorena currently lives in Houston, TX.

Lauren Salazar approaches her weaving using the components of traditional painting.  Frame, canvas, and hue are approached as equals in creating, and their dependency on one another is evident.  Boldly painted frames are explored three-dimensionally as handwoven canvases bind themselves to all sides and in all directions.

Togetherness Undone exploits and changes the metaphor of weaving itself.  Weaving, as in relationships with family, friends, and community, is about creating a unified, strong and purposeful cloth out of many small and fragile strands.  The idea of weaving, in Togetherness Undone, is that the group is more powerful than the individual.

In 2010, Lauren Salazar received her BFA in Painting from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.  She then received her MFA in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 2013.  In 2014, she had an exhibition of her work at Lawndale Art Center in Houston, TX.  Lauren also had an artist’s residency at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in 2013.  Lauren currently lives in Houston, TX.

Pathway to Nowhere or Anywhere and Togetherness Undone will continue through Friday, July 1, 2016.