Nick Makanna. Rune XLII (Starspawn), 2021, Glazed Stoneware, 59 x 22.5 x 22.5in inquiries

Sarah Hotchkiss. Zzz, 2022, Flashe and gouache on panel, 16 x 16in inquiries

William Emmert, Super Dad, 2022, Paper, paint and glue, 11 x 9 x 5in inquiries

William Emmert, Super Dad, 2022, Paper, paint and glue, 11 x 9 x 8in inquiries

Terry Powers, Panic Room 1, 2022, Oil on linen, 18 x 14in inquiries

Terry Powers, Panic Room 2, 2022, Oil on linen, 40 x 30in inquiries

Julio Del Rio. Clown, 2021, Glazed ceramic, 19.75 x 12 x 12.5in inquiries

Julio Del Rio, Untitled, 2016, Glazed ceramic, 6 x 11 x 8in

Mathew Craven, 3PILLARS, 2022, Found images on Found Poster, 44 x 34in (unframed)

Sofie Ramos, Sock Painting, 2022, Latex paint & found objects on panel, 36 x 28in

Nick Makanna, Isolationism I, 2019, Glazed ceramic and plexiglass, 20 x 5 x 19in inquiries

Sofie Ramos, Mop with handkerchief, 2022, Latex paint & found objects, 61 x 13 x 15in inquiries

Steve Powers, On My Way, 2015, Enamel on metal panel (Framed), 48 x 48in inquiries

Willy Reed, Harvester, 2022, fired ceramic, 23.5 x 23.5in inquiries

Nueva Tierra

Building out a gallery from the ramshackle remnants of what was to the expected slick white cube of the modern art world is quite an undertaking. The concrete warehouse floors of GGLA’s latest space were so broken down, dirt patches peaking through chipped cement, that the suppressed land under a thin concrete membrane was reasserting its presence.  Working with this crumbling cement surface and neglected walls, constructing the gallery was a process of creating new ground, both literally and figuratively. Yet how oxymoronic is the concept of new ground - Nueva Tierra - and how can this earth beneath our feet existing for almost 4.5 billion years and inhabited for almost 15,000, be a land ever truly untapped? The construction of GGLA is a collaboration with the many foundations of the previous, working with the remnants of what was, however dilapidated, updating and making anew. 

Much in the same way the creation of GGLA is a collaboration with a new physical space and history, the roots of Guerrero Gallery are inextricably intertwined with a network of artists spanning across the US and the world. Each previous show provided a connection point for a different artist and their respective community, and Nueva Tierra is an exhibition that honors those relationships built within the previous iterations of the gallery, updating and transposing this conversation within GGLA’s new space in Los Angeles’ Glassell Park neighborhood. 

From Terry Powers’ observational oil paintings of a garage’s pegboard and plywood shelves holding containers and rarely used appliances, to Sarah Hotchkiss’ flattened hard-edged geometric gouache on panel works drawing inspiration from vintage game boards, the artists within Nueva Tierra touch on the layered histories and entanglements that accompany place and how we negotiate these narratives. Willy Reed, Julio Del Rio and Nick Makanna utilize ceramics as a means of world building. Reed employs the gestural nature of clay to create guttural compositions interrogating identity construction, while Del Rio creates humanoid forms built from bulbous bases and adorned with colorful glazes.  Makanna creates architecturally latticed forms that hint at figuration. Steve Powers creates layered compositions of hand painted signs which touch on the nuances of human experience, while William Emmert and Sofie Ramos approach the sphere of domesticity.  Emmert creates delicate marijuana clones and their adjoining vessels from humble materials such as paper, glue and paint, while Ramos uses non traditional materials, like socks and other everyday items, soaked in brightly hued paints to create energetic compositions. And finally, Matthew Craven uses ink, paint and collage to create intricately patterned images that touch on the aesthetic connections that exist between cultures throughout time. 

Within the walls of GGLA, the artists featured in Nueva Tierra work in concert to form a new space, their varied works blending and harmonizing with the histories and lineages of the building’s past both known and unknown, all together creating new narratives.

Installation Views