Alejandro Villa Duran Flower of the Desert

Giovanni’s Room is pleased to present Flower of the Desert, an exhibition that explores the connections between abstraction and emotion, on view at the gallery in downtown Los Angeles.

Alejandro Villa Duran’s second solo show with the gallery focuses on his observations during his recent trips to San Luis Potosí, and the constantly changing, emotion driven world around him. Villa Duran’s paintings reject form and instead turn to abstraction to explore his growing understanding of his existence in the world. Drawing inspiration from his belief that matter is not only material, but emotional as well, he integrates his experiences into colorful representations on the canvas. Painting with his hands, cloth, sponges, and only rarely using brushes, his process of creation requires vulnerability and intimacy with his canvases. This emotional vulnerability is easily felt when viewing his paintings. 

Abstract painting has served as a revolutionary tool for the artist to translate his experiences and emotions onto the canvas, allowing him to express the importance of his queer identity to his experiences in the world. Abstraction allows him the freedom to take autonomy of how he feels and to express these feelings in a universal, comprehensible way. His modus operandi relies on his ability to empty himself of his feelings and to project them instead into his work.

Embracing impermanence and accepting that change is the only constant he experiences is fundamental to the artist's practice. As the world around him continues to change, so does he, and each of his works involves a different experience of creation. Villa Duran lives with the understanding that every moment he experiences is unrepeatable in the universe. As the world moves forward, he moves with it, living in harmony with the changes that he knows will bring him greater resilience and a brighter future. As his experiences and emotions come in waves, Villa Duran jumps wholeheartedly into them, embracing every new wave with hope and appreciation for the cycle of life and death.

- Arianna Rosen 

Alejandro Villa Duran (b. 1993) was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. He currently lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico. Duran received his BA in Textile Design from Central Saint Martins, London in 2016, and his MA in Sculpture from Royal College of Art, London in 2020. Solo exhibitions include Together, Alone, Giovanni’s Room, Los Angeles (2022), Rudimento, Quito Ecuador (2021), and he has been included in group exhibitions at Nordenhake, Mexico City (2022), Sadie Cole’s HQ, London, and Relaciones Públicas, Mexico (2021).