Jesus Polanco Solo Show

Tappeto Volante is delighted to announce The Distances Between Two Points, a solo show by Mexican-born artist Jesus Polanco curated By Jared Deery and Matrix Art Project.

Polanco graduated from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Denver, Colorado, in 1986 under professor, friend, and collaborator Dale Chisman. After moving to pursue his artistic career in New York with his partner Emily Cantrell in 1993, they founded the Tribeca Artist-Run Space Matrix Art Project.

The Distances Between Two Points showcases a selection of works on paper, sculptures, and paintings from Emily Cantrell's private collection, created during his early years in New York, alongside a group of 12 recent works on paper made after overcoming his challenges with addiction and homelessness, finding stability through his art in Austin, Texas. The exhibition aims to reconnect a broken timeline and fill the gaps in Polanco's artistic practice.

Jesus Polanco's works on paper reveal his profound connection with life through his relationship with nature. His repetitive mark-making technique references prehistoric cave art and Native American decorative kaleidoscopic patterns. Birds are a recurrent subject in his work, surfacing from his childhood in Mexico, where he rescued and raised them with his Grandmother, a curandera from the Kikapoo culture.

The patterns used in his compositions melt into landscapes, fields, psychedelic composition, autobiographical storytelling, collage, and writing, interconnecting nature-like subjects into abstractions which, as dreams, are spontaneous assimilation of unconscious contents into consciousness.

Despite 12 years of discomfort and homelessness, Jesus Polanco never stopped communicating with his friends, artists, colleagues, (and Curators of the show) Emily Cantrell and Jared Deery, continuing to work. The Distances Between Two Points is a testament to their profound admiration and respect for Jesus' willpower that drove him out of his challenging circumstances.

This heartwarming story of friendship and mutual support is set to be a new beginning for Jesus' extraordinary talent.

Part of the sales proceeds from the show will be collected into a fund to ensure Jesus with housing and art supplies.