HECTOR DIONICIO MENDOZA: ANCESTRAL WISDOM, RECYCLING AND RESILIENCE
Luis De Jesús Los Ángeles gallery presented Héctor Dionicio Mendoza’s exhibition Buscando Futuro (Searching for a Future). This is the artist’s first solo show at the gallery.
Hector Dionicio Mendoza’s work materializes oral histories, ancient wisdom, familial parables, and personal and communal experiences to engage the many myths and realities of migration. Combining an array of sculptural forms and materials — including assemblage, cast, and hand-sculpted techniques, along with found, salvaged and industrial materials, his works are informed and guided by his own personal experiences and the realities and politics of the U.S./Mexico border. Fluctuating between abstraction and figuration, it ignites our consciousness with narratives that embrace magical realism and Latinx/e futurism while exploring themes of migration and the environment, spirituality, as well as the geographies of place, memory, identity, and the visualization of immigrant stories that expand upon a new latinidad.
As a storytelling device, Mendoza's consideration of materials is not only linked to the formation of his sculptures but is also an embodiment of their story and journey, and a prescription for healing. Inspired by ethnobotany and memories of his grandfather, a fifth-generation curandero, or shaman-healer, Mendoza's materials embody themes and narratives expressed in the works, utilizing materials associated with place —such as earth, local flora and eucalyptus trees; materials related to labor— such as corrugated cardboard, cinderblocks, and plywood; in addition to quotidian found objects — including plastic bottles and recycled clothing along with the artist's own concoction of ethnic bread (produced from his study of global flatbreads made for travel, from the tortilla to pita, naan, matzo, and other yeast-less types). Mendoza manages a poetic flux between the often ignored familiar and the awe-inspiring mythical with his ability to evoke weight, emotion, struggle, and hope to elicit wonder and empathy.
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Hector Dionicio Mendoza. Amor Propio (salud mental)/ Self-love (mental health), 2024. Mixed media (wood, soil, glue, ethnic bread, cardboard, spray paint on wood panel). 88 x 71 in (223.5 x 180.3 cm). Image Courtesy: Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
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Hector Dionicio Mendoza. Algo de lo que me cuido (Some of what protects me), 2024 Mixed meda (broken glass, feathers, seeds, cardboard, ethnic bread, acrylic paint, sealer, concrete, wood, glue). 49 x 16 x 12 in (124.5 x 40.6 x 30.5 cm). Image Courtesy: Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
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Hector Dionicio Mendoza. Beast of burden, jackass/ Pinche’ burro, asno, 2023-2024 Mixed media (spray paint on wood panel, screws, ethnic bread, sand, back, broken glass, and glue). 95 x 72 x 1 in (241.3 x 182.9 x 2.5 cm). Image Courtesy: Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
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Hector Dionicio Mendoza. When I dream, I fly/ En mis sueños, yo vuelo, 2023-2024 Mixed media (metal, concrete, mirror, glass, feathers, ethnic bread, found skateboard, bark, paper, hoodie, epoxy, and cardboard). 50 x 68 x 28 in (127 x 172.7 x 71.1 cm). Image Courtesy: Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
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Hector Dionicio Mendoza. Leaning, Holding, Pushing, 2020 -2023. Mixed media (wood bark, epoxy, cardboard, hot glue, ethnic bread, acrylic paint, wood, metal screws). 136 x 102 x 48 in (345.4 x 259.1 x 121.9 cm). Image Courtesy: Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
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Hector Dionicio Mendoza. Perros Callejeros/ Street Dogs, 2024. Mixed media (wood, soil, glue, ethnic bread, cardboard, and spray paint on wood panel). 42 x 66 in (106.7 x 167.6 cm). Image Courtesy: Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
Buscando Futuro (Searching for a Future) brings a trove a stories and experiences together to address the many uncertainties and complexities of migration, including social constructs, classism, and geopolitics that can hinder the simple right to hope. Mendoza’s materialization of these narratives not only brings a means for representation, but also a course for imagining alternative futures, and critical discourse for issues faced within communities including intersectional feminisms, labor, human rights, and LGBTQIA+ rights. Mendoza’s use of familiar and recycled materials inspires possibilities of transforming the forgotten, pride in origins, and endurance for the search.
Buscando Futuro (Searching for a Future). Exhibition by Héctor Dionicio Mendoza.
Until February 17th, 2024.
Luis de Jesús Los Ángeles. 1110 Mateo Street, Los Ángeles, United States.
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