Tripa Colectivo at Chicago Art Department this Friday

By Jen Hazen in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 11, 2009 5:00PM

In 2007, Chicago-based mixed-media artist Abraham Velázquez Tello and painter Jova Durán formed the experimental artist group Tripa Colectivo to support and represent Latino and Chicago artists while exploring culture and gender themes in their work.

On Friday March 13, the members of Tripa Co., along with mixed-media artist Mike Wilgus, prove that their collaboration is much more than the sum of its parts with Evita el Exceso at Chicago Art Department. Prepare for a media-saturated blitzkrieg that mimics our everyday lives, yet zooms in and dissects it with a critical eye, as the trio examines materialism’s impact upon our personal identity and interactions with one another.

A Lichtenstein-esque mural titled Sueña Büey combines a smattering of wheatpasted ads, angular stencils (think Shepard Fairey), and dripping spray paint sprawled across an entire wall. On the opposite wall of the gallery, Durán’s dimensional paintings (made of salvaged wood, cardboard boxes, and other dumpster scraps) are assembled like puzzle pieces and painted in tones of tangerine, lemon yellow, and soft pink. And Velázquez Tello’s lifestyle photographs of Mexico City, which weave around Durán’s paintings, explore issues of gender / machismo. So, head over to Pilsen’s 2nd Fridays for your last chance to check out Tripa Co.’s floor-to-ceiling tapestry of our love/hate relationship with all things consumer culture.

Chicago Art Department, 1837 S Halsted, Friday, March 13, 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. for Pilsen’s 2nd Fridays. Last showing. Free.

Exhibit Photo by Abraham Velázquez Tello