The Hole is proud to present the debut solo exhibition by Lance De Los Reyes. The exhibition will feature thirteen large oil paintings and an installation across the main galleries.

De Los Reyes will debut thirteen new oil paintings on drop cloths and canvasses mounted to stretched raw canvas. In the studio, De Los Reyes works on the floor or with the tarp pinned directly to the wall, hence the works here are presented like skins or pelts tacked up onto a canvas. The surfaces are heavily distressed, the paints often smeared with hands and fingers wiped off along the edges, footprints and debris crisscross the area. In this way the works are part of a dynamic lived process as opposed to an easel painting approach; they take shape with immediacy and fervor, and the imperfections are not contrived niceties but real record of the path of the painter creating from his imagination.

De Los Reyes is a believer, for what it’s worth, and believes that painting can communicate sacred truths, powerful ideas or important complexities. The artworks feature symbolic imagery, inventive forms, color patterns derived from alchemical tables and beliefs. Many works feature archetypes or concepts that have a pan-global mythological inspiration and take from many archaic belief systems to imbue meaning. Like Julian Schnabel he believes in man, myth and magic in painting and has the power, energy and almost manic intensity to create with similar ambition. Though an emerging artist, he is unafraid to try to “stand on the shoulders of giants” to stretch himself to new heights.

Lance De Los Reyes was born in Texas and studied painting, performance, sculpture and video at the San Francisco Art Institute. After moving to New York City he assisted artist Donald Baechler and has exhibited with The Journal Gallery and Peter Makebish.