NYAB Event - Francisco Castro Leñero "The Red, the Black and the White"

Francisco Castro Leñero "The Red, the Black and the White"

Howard Scott Gallery

This event has ended.

Castro-Leñero has chosen the title, The Red, the Black and the White, borrowed from Stendhal's celebrated novel The Red and the Black for a group of works which will compose the forthcoming exhibition, his fourth one-person exhibition in New York City.

One of the principal strengths of Castro-Leñero's work has long been the vibrancy and beauty of the role of color, which he weds to the geometric organization of his works. The depth and subtlety on these works continue to reveal his sensitivity to color through the interweaving of deep reds, mustard yellows and earth colors, in interaction with black and altered whites constitute a marked departure from the sunlight-filled palettes which bespeak his Central American environment and heritage.

One could consider dividing the works in this exhibition onto three main concerns: lineal, build with more austerity of resources, thus confining the image within a basic grid; interplay between shape and background, where white and black and white and red strive to create ambiguities within a single structural base; and lastly, slight shifts (displacements) that are now more randomly incorporated in view of ascertaining major creative freedom within the composition.

The use of three colors as well as the intention of keeping the main theme within the boundaries of a chessboard and basic grid might sound constructive. His wish to demonstrate the contrary is the pursuit of this exhibition.

Long esteemed as one of the most gifted painters of his generation in his native Mexico, Francisco Castro-Leñero continues to exhibit widely, including his participation in the 2005 exhibition at the Reina Sofia in Madrid, Eco: arte contemporaneo mexicano, co-organized by the critic and curator, Osvaldo Sánchez. His work is held in numerous museum collections, including - in this country - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and San Antonio Museum of Art.