2011 > We are angry.

Ottawa Spot Light Artist Saw Gallery.

Guillermo Trejo will present his first major solo exhibition in Canada as part of Galerie SAW Gallery’s new series designed to promote emerging local talent on a national stage, entitled New Ottawa Artist Spotlight. Guillermo Trejo has exhibited widely in Mexico. He studied at the National School of Painting, Sculpture and Etching in Mexico City and is currently completing his MFA at the University of Ottawa. Much of Trejo’s recent work borrows directly from news media, pairing disparate political events that reveal a borderless world where humans ubiquitously fight against poverty and violence. His poetic and purified drawn reproductions of over 60 front-page news events and headlines will be shown alongside wall murals and prints, making up an unfamiliar media world where all news items seem to carry equal weight. An image of protesters with raised fists is matched with one of Justin Bieber raising his hand at a concert. Images of police, protesters and terrorists in black are shown side-by-side as if they were one and the same. These are some of the hundreds of connections Trejo makes with this new body of work. This kind of democratization of popular or regional stories allows us to ponder not our differences but the incredible likeness of many of our world’s important episodes. History appears to be repeated over and over again. Violence and war appear to be never-ending, yet Trejo’s delicate commemorations bring a human tone to these stories, in a way that is deeply contemplative and moving. Guillermo Trejo lives and works in Ottawa.

http://galeriesawgallery.com/admin/uploads/files/Guillermo_Trejo_web_catalogue.pdf