Brian De Jesus
De ladrillo en ladrillo, construyes un Castillo (Brick by brick, you build a Castle), 2024,
Oil paint, pastels, sticks, Acrylic, PVA glue, concrete, fibre, tile adhesive and dirt on canvas,
150 x 122cm (59x48in)
This exhibition is the first solo presentation of the Venezuelan artist, Brian De Jesus (b.1996, Caracas, Venezuela). De Jesus' work is simultaneously informed by Tuki - a culture, dance, and music genre derived from electronic/raptor house music that originated in Caracas in the early-1990s which has been spear-headed by the likes of DJ Barbatr, and labour/the invisible immigrant community that keep the city moving. Central to De Jesus' practice is his personal history, one of migration and physical labour (he has spent the last decade living and working in London as a delivery driver to fund his studies at the University of Westminster where he graduated with a first class degree). This is not an uncommon position in a metropolis like London, and as such his work is heavily rooted within a wider collective memory and the experiences of the Venezuelan diaspora. This marginalization of Venezuelan communities both abroad, and that of 'Tuki' communities within Venezuela, is enmeshed with class and socioeconomic fabrics internationally. A handful of the works featured in this exhibitions are graffitied with slurs that are often directed towards those who live within, and abide by Tuki culture such as 'Veneco', 'Yayaju' and 'Malandro' translating loosely to mean 'scrounger', 'crook', and 'lower-class criminal'. By including them, De Jesus re-appropriates and reclaims the language in a defiant and proud stance. In a similar vein, upon close inspection of the works, betting slips, particularly from horse races, are collaged amidst the concrete and Gesso, with the numeral references '777' or '888'. Following the death of Hugo Chávez in 2013, the founder of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution which banned gambling, the country has seen significant financial recession since his acolyte and successor, Nicolás Maduro, came to power. In 10 years Venezuela's economy has shrunk by 80%, with oil wells being replaced by gambling, specifically in USD. De Jesus includes these motifs as the recession in which the country finds itself has had far reaching consequences for him personally. This economic and political unrest has similarly in part engenderd the formation of Tuki culture in the poorer areas of Caracas, and its themes of precarity, luck, violence and danger are very much echoed in his canvases. With a vivacious, expressionistic, and aggressive approach to application, utilising materials like concrete, betting slips, Gesso, bricks and dirt, he stands at odds with the westernized white cube, fine art aesthetic. For this reason the works in the exhibition have been placed upon informal brick and stone structures, materials inherent to the urban landscape of Caracas. The intention is to disrupt the gallery aesthetic and very literally situate the work within the context from which
they were conceived.
Brian has been awarded several fellowships and residencies including the Travers Smith CSR Art Programme 2023-24,, Manos Creando - Gaswork Latin American Artist Workshop, 2023 and the studio Programme – Conditions x ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts), 2023. He has been included in exhibitions at Gasworks and Ambika p3 in London.
Poem to accompany the artwork, 'Long Shift':
What do you know about destiny?
What do you know about faith?
You know nothing; you can’t see my pain.
Risking my life for pennies, trying to exist
In a system that doesn’t even look at me.
What do you know about gambling?
What do you know about winning?
Every day that I walk, death is within me.
That is our life, the life of the invisibles'
Poem to accompany the artwork, 'Within Worlds':
'Where I am myself, where I left myself
Where I came, who I am, I’ve left it there
Is a reminder of who I can be when I’m free
My borderland is not there; it is just here
My freedom is your hand holding my hand
It doesn’t separate, doesn’t judge, just love
love what we can become'