Exhibition Checklist and Information
https://www.instagram.com/salomonhuerta/
“The Gun Series” displays nine new paintings as part of a decade-long exploration by Huerta, who masterfully captures tension, vulnerability, and resilience through his intimate paintings. Each canvas is a window into a fraught bedroom exchange—a tableau where mundane objects intersect with the weight of history and personal experience.
From age nine to sixteen, Huerta performed a daily ritual: presenting a pre-supper snack to his father. Against the backdrop of their Boyle Heights apartment, a .38 revolver occupied the same table. This firearm, both protector and harbinger of danger, became a recurring motif in Huerta’s work. The tension of this familial exchange—where “anything could happen at any moment”—is palpable in each stroke of these loaded mise-en-scènes.
Huerta’s journey as an artist intersects with his lived reality. Born in Tijuana and raised in Los Angeles, he navigated a world where gun violence was not abstract but a daily threat. His family’s migration to the United States was driven by survival, and the revolver—strapped to his father’s waist—symbolized both protection and vulnerability.
About Salomón Huerta: Salomón Huerta (Tijuana, Mexico, 1965) lives and works in Los Angeles. His work has been included in the Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, and exhibitions at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC, and a solo exhibition of his paintings at Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX. Huerta’s paintings are in the collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA and Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA, among others.
Curtis Stage – Exhibition Organizer/Director/Dept Chair
Adam F Scott – Co-Director/Faculty