"Viajero" a pop-up exhibition by John Miranda

Viajero

John Miranda
November 16 – December 21, 2024

Opening Reception: Saturday November 16th from 5 - 7pm

Galleri Urbane is pleased to present 'Viajero', a pop-up exhibition of work by painter and sculptor John Miranda. This marks Miranda's first exhibition with the gallery. The title refers to the traveler, a character that wanders through time - collecting mementos of culture and ephemera.

Following a trip to the Philippines, recent works by Miranda constitute a shift in compositional structure – swirling vines, hanging lamps, resting cats and dogs frame the snapshot-based works. "I view objects with human qualities - I believe they have a story to tell and have lived a life just like the rest of us," says Miranda. These objects come from his wandering; cellphone pictures taken in an instant inform the sketches for his encaustic panels. "I romanticize the images and hide the real world; most cats I photographed were without a home," says Miranda. "I see they struggle to find food – they live from scraps to survive – but in my paintings they have a certain beauty to them."

Although previously Miranda has worked from creating stencils, transferring those to the encaustic medium, his process now transitions sketches directly into melted wax. Along with this shift in process has been an evolution in display. "The multiple panels came from being resourceful. I didn’t have a wooden panel that was big enough for a large painting, so I combined two panels together and felt that it would be a shame to hide the division between the two panels." says Miranda. "I exposed it and the line became a symbol of resourcefulness and adaptability."

These relief works create a sense of the Viajero; one who travels the world – holding onto fragments of what they see as a passive observer, preserving the cultural ephemera of the present.