February 8th - February 12th, 2023
Michael St. John Stephen McClintock Noelia Towers de boer (Los Angeles) is pleased to participate in ZONAMACO EJES, 2023. The presentation coalesces into a survey of portraiture that includes paintings by Los Angeles and Dayton, Ohio based artist Stephen McClintock, Barcelona born Chicago based painter Noelia Towers, and Massachusetts based painter Michael St. John. Michael St. John’s newest series of pictures disassemble painting and reformat it by blending and bending different styles and compositional motifs. This way of working is inspired by French-Swiss film director Jean-Lucc Goddard. Who’s new wave films combined different elements of storytelling and filmmaking such as how historically impossible or subtly fantastic settings are juxtaposed. St. John’s new work operates in a similar fashion to Goddard's films; which compel a disrupting awareness of the medium itself often including allusions to other films in themselves and constitute into an intricate maze. McClintock expands upon his exploration of the rugged American West turning images of trucks into portraits of a recent past. By removing the commercial focus of the imagery, McClintock seduces the onlooker, invoking a familiarity of American folklore. Presented in solitary settings, McClintock highlights the paradoxical nature of the subject, where rural iconography is at odds with urban corporate culture. Here the distinction between subjective desires and objective documentation has been eroded, creating a relic of society's yearning. Noelia Towers’ presents each painting as if it were a paused movie, cinematic, and still in motion. Almost as though one could press play and continue watching the story unravel. This perceived possible movement conjures an air of mystery and alludes to the sleight of hand that is occurring in Towers' work. Her subjects of choice display the power of intimacy, trust, and love with references to larger philosophical quandaries. Michael St. John has shown his work extensively over the past thirty years in museums, alternative spaces and galleries throughout the United States. He has presented solo exhibitions at de boer, Los Angeles, CA; Andrea Rosen Gallery New York, NY; team (gallery, inc.), New York, NY; Karma, New York, NY; Edward Cella, Los Angeles, CA; Ashes/Ashes, New York, NY; Pio Pico, Los Angeles; and Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY. Group exhibitions include Marlborough Contemporary, New York, NY; CCS Bard/Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; The Rubell Family Collection/Contemporary Arts Foundation, Miami, FL; Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY; Rental Gallery, New York, NY; Greene Naftali, New York, NY; Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, NY. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Artnet, Art in America, Artnews, BOMB Magazine, W Magazine, and Cultured Magazine. St. John’s paintings are held in numerous public collections, including The Rubell Family Collection, Weatherspoon Art Museum, MIT List Visual Arts Center, The Tang Teaching Museum, and the Zabludowicz Collection. Stephen McClintock’s work is forthcoming in a documentary style that sharply captures the veracity of the human condition. McClintock was born in New Jersey in 1984. He has had solo shows at de boer, Los Angeles; and New Release Gallery. He has also exhibited in group shows including Mental at Muddguts in Brooklyn, NY, GREEN at the Spring Break Art Fair in New York, Malmo Sessions at Carl Kostyal, 9999 at The Fireplace Project. Stephen lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and Dayton, OH. Noelia Towers is a Chicago based artist born and raised in Barcelona. Towers' paintings are made in a photo-realistic style, her images created by photographing herself and references to dominance and submissive practices. Her subjects of choice display the power of intimacy, trust, and love with references to larger philosophical quandaries. Towers brush strokes are a combination of representational and light impasto, creating a quality that refers to the stark digital nature of casual contemporary snapshots. The resulting paintings are unsettling portraits that relate to the artist’s own unique perspective. Towers has exhibited her work at de boer, Los Angeles, CA; Stems Gallery, Paris France; Half Gallery, NY; Woman Made Gallery and Public Works Gallery in Chicago, IL.