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Fabian Lopez

Essay by Jeffrey Ryan

A Journey in Paint

Travelers all know the sweet disorienting feeling of being dropped in a new city, and the joy of discovering it. Many of us cling to our maps in hand, guidebooks and hints from those who have come before us. But it is when we put the map away, that the place begins to reveal its charms. We have to look up, and begin to use the landmarks around to orient ourselves. Where is the sun? Check. That cathedral I passed on my right? Check. The river must be near as I can smell the briny air – there it is. In just a few days, this place, which at first was so alien, can begin to feel as if it is our new town. So too with painting: every blank canvas dumps the artist (most likely near a train station), allowing them to figure their way around. Filling up that blank space is similar to learning a place. Buildings take on meaning, signs - even if in another language - become another crumb leading us out of our new urban labyrinth.

We start with nothing much, and before long, we have more than we ever thought. In Fabian Lopez’s paintings, he began with simple premises of filling up canvases with color and form. Paint grew into structures, structures into cities. But at their core - they are just armatures for painting. The beauty of painting is that is doesn’t need much excuse to get going. Walls, roof, with some sky? More than enough. More than enough in the right hands would be more appropriate. We look at these works like the travelers in town – we don’t know what their purpose might be, and we don’t really know where we are. But the artist is kind enough to give us plenty to look at – skies of blues, grays, and pinks, grounds the same save the occasional verdant carpet.

With all the images bombarding our retinas daily, only painting allows us the time to slow down and the luxury of ambiguity to let us determine what we are seeing. Because it is in this alchemy of painting - where a box can become a house, a pile of shanties can become a city, and these in turn can morph right back into abstraction. Like the traveler wandering about a city, built up over the ancient bones and buildings, we viewers of paintings forge our way towards meaning.
The bedrock of painting, like the foundation of a city, is built up of those who care enough to stick around; the paintings that effect us, mixing with the lives we lead; and the things we see, in our eyes and heads. Where these paintings are going we know not, but this journey in paint is what counts. Enjoy the ride.


Curriculum Vitae

Education

2008-09 MFA Candidate in Painting Tyler School of Art - Temple University

2007-08 MFA Candidate in Painting Tyler School of Art- Temple University: Rome,
Italy campus

2002-07 BFA Painting and Drawing, California State University of Long Beach


Exhibitions

2008 Everyone but Gus, Temple University Gallery, Rome, Italy

2007 Mind Your P’s and D’s, I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.

2006 BFA Senior Thesis Exhibition, Gatov Gallery, Long Beach, CA.

2006 Chromaniacs, LA Art Space, Culver City, CA.

2006 Insights, University Art Museum (CSU Long Beach), Long Beach, CA.

2006 BFA Senior Show, Gatov Gallery, Long Beach, CA.

2005 Another Year in L.A, Los Angeles, CA.

2005 Essence, Basswerks Studio & Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.

2005 Apocalypse, Werby Gallery, Long Beach, CA


Honors / Awards

2007-09 Future Faculty Fellowship, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA.


Curatorial Work

2006 Wasteland, Gatov Gallery, Long Beach, CA.

2005 That’s How We Roll , Los Angeles (Chinatown), CA.

2005 Rupture, Gatov Gallery, Long Beach, CA.







 

Ostia
oil on canvas
 7.5"x9"


 

 shooter's nation
oil on canvas
7.5"x9"