January 24 – March 07, 2015

Opening reception: Saturday, January 24, 6–8 pm

Lora Reynolds is pleased to announce Border Theory, a project-room exhibition of paintings by Tony de los Reyes. This is the artist's first solo presentation at Lora Reynolds Gallery. Tony de los Reyes's jewel-toned paintings from the colorscale series are silkscreens on dyed linen—renderings of satellite photos of the US/Mexico border. After dying the fabric and printing a topographical image on it, de los Reyes paints a delicate line of oil paint that bisects the canvas and follows the boundary between the United States and Mexico. Each work’s metal frame is painted to complement the dyed linen.

Not only do the frames call attention to the edges—the boundaries—of the paintings, they also act as a sort of fence between painting and wall. This gesture suggests a connection between producing artwork and drawing international borders: both are the product of organizing and articulating culture, ideology, and space--whether on a small scale (with canvas) or a large one (with land).

The works in Border Theory celebrate the magnificence of the natural landscape and highlight unanswerable questions about international relations and immigration. De los Reyes's paintings reflect the current geopolitical climate, of course, but also investigate the nature (and interrelatedness) of place, identity, and art-making—timeless and enduring concerns.

Tony de los Reyes lives and works in Los Angeles. He has had solo exhibitions at such institutions as the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (California), Grand Central Art Center (California), and the New Britain Museum of American Art (Connecticut). In the spring of 2015 he will be included in a group exhibition at the Asia Society Texas Center (Houston). He has also participated in group shows at the Weatherspoon Art Museum (North Carolina) and the Pacific Asia Museum (California). His work has been reviewed in Artforum, Art in America, Los Angeles Times, and Modern Painters.