Rainforest Cafe

Curated by Higinio Martinez

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 1, 2024, 6 - 9 pm

Showing: June 1st - July 6th, 2024

Guerrero Gallery is proud to present Rainforest Cafe, a group exhibition curated by Higinio Martinez, featuring works by twenty artists hailing from Los Angeles and beyond.

Featured Artists: Frances Stark, Ben Quinn, Karin Gulbran, Mia Scarpa, Melvino Garetti, Javier Ramirez, Sonya Sombreuil, Maija Peeples-Bright, Jason Meadows, Matthew Sweesy, Nina de Creeft Ward, Athena Paola, Julianne Lee, Ava Woo Kaufman, Rossana Romero, Thomas Linder, Jack Alving, Lara Karadogan, Ava McDonough and Oskar Peterson

For many, the words Rainforest Cafe still ring with a warm and hazy nostalgia, recalling bites of chicken fingers and quesadillas punctuated by a recurring simulated thunderstorm and a canopy of recorded bird sounds on loop. Rainforest Cafe still remains as an archetypal example of the immersive themed restaurant–a space that eschewed white linen table cloths and chandeliers, for faux vine-covered ceilings, animatronic animals and a talking tree named Tracy. However there’s no amount of “Python Pasta'' that can assuage the letdown as our jaded selves are forced to reckon with the naive illusion that forms that jungle themed restaurant–a honed tool of hyper-capitalism that uses an elaborate naturalistic set and a veneer of conservationism to hawk mediocre food and overpriced merchandise to tourists.

Ava McDonough, My Love, The Absurd , 2024, Gouache on Cotton Rag Paper, Porcelain with Ilmenite, Polyester Thread, 11.5 x 14 in.

Ava Woo Kaufman, Untitled (Angel Food Memory, White and Yellow, Needle Threader), 2024, Bunka Thread, Linen, Silk Thread, Polyester Thread, Pumice, Binder’s Board, Found Object, 5 x 20 in.

Ava Woo Kaufman, Untitled (Angel Food Memory, Plaid, Scissor Sharpener), 2024, Bunka Thread, Wool, Cotton, Pumice, Binder’s Board, Found Object 3 x 20 in.

Ava Woo Kaufman, Untitled (Angel Food Memory, Black, Glass Cutter), 2024, Bunka Thread, Linen, Silk Thread, Pumice, Binder’s Board, Found Object, 5 x 20 in.

Yet through this whole charade, therein still lies the deeply human impulse to represent the natural world as a means of reflection and connection–an impulse that was shared by the creators of the restaurant chain and similarly runs through the works of all the artists featured within Rainforest Cafe the exhibition. Depictions of the natural world date back to the beginning of humankind and artistic expression, and the desire to depict spaces and beings that are outside of our species and realms of knowledge have never waned. Yet as can be expected from such a collection of artists, the varying approaches employed by these artists are wide and far reaching.

Javier Ramirez, Gravy Lover, 2024, Acrylic, Graphite, Solid Marker on Canvas, 20 x 16 in.

Matthew Sweesy, Untitled Poem, 2023, Oil on Wood, 24 x 29 in.

Karin Gulbran, Boar Family in the Rain (with Purple Flowers), 2020, Glazed Ceramic 22 x 19.625 in.

Maija Peeples-Bright, Woofus Vitruvius Waterway, 2007, Glazed Ceramic, 15 x 7.5 x 7.5 in.

Maija Peeples-Bright’s ceramics on the other hand, glow with an effervescent energy as googly eyed animals with mouths agape interact with other similarly goofy beings such as in “Bat Snail”. Nina de Creeft Ward’s raku-fired ceramic sculptures are saturated with a quiet empathy and gravitas–the artist’s “Bluebuck ‘You Will Always Be With Me’”, features the bust of this now extinct animal, its head turned and eyes closed in a delicate almost slumber-like pose.

Frances Stark, Study for “Welcome to the Anthropomoephecene” 2024, Acrylic Ink and Collage on Canvas Diptych: 12 x 16 in. / each

Julianne Lee, A Cloud Forest at Lava Lake, 2024, Lava Rocks from Pisgah Crater, CA; Custom Scent (Natural Essential Oils and Synthetic Aromamolecules), 18 x 11 x 5.5 in.

While Julianne Lee’s “A Cloud Forest at Lava Lake” employs six lava rocks arranged in a grid on a canvas bag in which they were collected, all enveloped and emanating a custom scent created by the artist from essential oils and synthetic aromamolecules–a deceptively simple piece which leads viewers on an open-ended journey via olfactory and sculptural means. Ben Quinn’s “Spirit of a Snail   (Nature Painting 001)” features a verdant and immersive field of greens and browns punctuated by an inkjet print of a snail hovering in the middle of the composition, while Matthew Sweesy builds materially rich and chunky oil paintings on wood that call forth fauna and atmospheric occurrences. Lara Karadogan creates carved clay compositions that are then painted to accentuate and interspersed with arrows and other language that contrasts the organic undulating forms.

Lara Karadogan, Birds on a Leaf, 2023, Oil on Clay on Wood, 10.5 x 13 in.

Lara Karadogan, Accuracy, 2023, Oil on Clay Tiles, 30 x 25 in.

Nina de Creeft Ward, Coyote #1, 2022, Raku Fired Clay 6.5 x 21 x 20 in.

Sonya Sombreuil, Esmeralda , 2024, Oil on Canvas, 14 x 10 in.

Jason Meadows, Wilbur, 2010, Mixed Media. 17.5 x 32 x 10 in.

Ben Quinn, Spirit of a Snail (Nature Painting 001), 2023, Watercolor, Charcoal, PVA, Inkjet Print Fixed to Canvas, 72 x 60 in.

Melvino Garetti, Curious Spirit, 2012, Low-Fire Ceramic with Glaze, 13 x 19.5 x 5 in.

Rossana Romero, Chimbita (Cargando Mi Historia Entre Tus Manos), 2024, Latex on Paper Mâché, 16 x 11 x 12 in.

Nina de Creeft Ward, Bluebuck “You Will Always Be With Me” , 2014, Raku Fired Clay, 23 x 20 13 in.

Jason Meadows, Teddy Bear Trap, 2010, Bronze, Steel Chain, 20.5 x 22 x 20 in.

Ava McDonough, Swallowtail, 2024, Oil on Panel, 8 x 10 in.

Ben Quinn, 2 Bugs, 2022, Watercolor, Charcoal, PVA, Inkjet Print Fixed to Canvas in Artist Frame, 11.5 x 14.5 in.

Thomas Linder, The Colosseum, 2021, Oil on Cowhide, 84 x 100 in.

Oskar Peterson, Devil Jumps Over a Fish, 2023, Oil Pastel on Artist’s Frame, 24.125 x 24.25 in.

Ava McDonough, Take Me Back to the Park, 2024, Oil on Panel, 18 x 14 in.

Athena Paola, Starburst, 2024, Glazed Stoneware, 15 x 12 x 1.5 in.

Sonya Sombreuil, Full Moon Pando, 2024, Oil on Canvas, 20 x 20 in

Maija Peeples-Bright, Batsnail, 2009, Glazed Ceramic, 6.5 x 10.25 x 4.5 in.

Matthew Sweesy, Untitled, 2023, Oil on Wood, 11 x 14 in.

Mia Scarpa, Kiss From a Rose, 2024, Acrylic on Canvas on Panel 38 x 26 in.

Jason Meadows, Potted Plants, 2020, Aluminum, Paint 21.75 x 12 x 7 in

Melvino Garetti, Space Is The Place, A Pleasure Place, 2023, Acrylic on Canvas, Plastic 10 x 10 in.

Jason Meadows, Venus Flytrap, 2020, Aluminum, Paint 19 x 11 x 7.5 in.

Jack Alving, Skull Crawler #1, 2023, Clay, 4.25 x 5.5 x 4 in.

Jack Alving, Skull Crawler #2, 2023, Clay, 7 x 4.5 x 3 in.

Jack Alving, Skull Crawler #3, 2023, Clay, 6 x 4 x 2.5 in.