Mr. Omar Mendoza brings a strong encouragement of highness to his mighty demonstration of fine art with his My Colors opening at Steve Turney Gallery. The inventive and daring, if not dangerous, overcomplication of indigenous media is a smashing triumph of the experimental with the experienced to bring out the exquisite to representing true beauty. Here, in the minutiae of flowery material, in the choicest of decisions to be made with certainty or trust in the process, yields an orchard of fruits in need of ripened plucking.

La Ofrenda. Omar Mendoza. Mexican honeysuckle, brazilwood, kina, zacatlaxcalli, charcoal, spirulina, jonote, blue stick, alum, lemon, turmeric, beetroot, beeswax, rabbit tail on cotton. 78.75″x70.875″ (200cmx180cm). Courtesy the artist Omar Mendoza and Steve Turner Gallery. Copyright Omar Mendoza.

For to pair the dreamy, eerie yet serene, surreal but centered, ideas and concepts Mr. Mendoza employs is a healthy expression of the human imagination in relating to Pre-Colombian indigenous contemporaries and their imaginary fantasies of the world to come. In the richness of the mythical play and its salubrious central American banditry, there is a softness, calming, mollifying to reach that nigh-impossible balance from a potential dizzying mania that can so richly occupy the frenzy of artistic passion in extending the dream to life.

Kiarya, 2022. Omar Mendoza. Mexican honeysuckle, brazil wood, kina, zacatlaxcalli, charcoal, spirulina, alder, thistle, jonote, jagua, lemon, marigold, turmeric, beeswax, rabbit tail on cotton. 78.75″x141.75″ (199.9cmx359.9cm) Courtesy the artist Omar Mendoza and Steve Turner Gallery. Copyright Omar Mendoza.

And it may be because of the scale of his average works provide so much cushion towards that therefore nobility in avoiding stirring the senses beyond what is necessary. Instead, we are left to savor to approach the intimacy of creation with the tender madness which froths such wonderful violets and indigos; materials so content with its finishing lashes and right-reasoned use of naturally spiritual media; that we are left to seriously ponder what is high art?

Xochicuicatzin, 2023. Omar Mendoza. Mexican honeysuckle, brazilwood, kina, zacatlaxcalli, charcoal, spirulina, alder, blue stick, large-leaf lantana, jagua, mysterious green, alum, salt, lemon, marigold. 78.75″x70.75″ (199.9cmx179.8cm). Courtesy the artist Omar Mendoza and Steve Turner Gallery. Copyright Omar Mendoza.

For with highness there is a necessity to the universally possible experience all human sensations can relate to. Yet this highness is distinct from ,say, the sun, because of the faculties are imaginary in principle extension. They are willed by mankind into nature, and, judging by the weight of the human population to experience it as a beautiful object, is measured with its necessary representation of true beauty – a truth in itself.

The Creation of Adam (c. 1512). Michelangelo. Fresco. 280 cm × 570 cm (9 ft 2 in × 18 ft 8 in. Courtesy Wikipedia and Alonso de Mendoza.

The permanence of that free will extension of the artist, seen in say, the Sistine Chapel, The Sleeping Gypsy, is in how continual the work lives on in the more than natural; but in the human mind and its working memory between ourselves during our necessary social exchanges. The need to relate to the conscious experience of an art piece, in universal agreement with the necessary representation of truth, consummates the ideal of high artistry. It is therefore contingent upon the originality of the artistry and masterpiece works, as that which is self-reliantly striven to become permanent: the upmost aim of high culture in celebrating eternal life.

Henri Rousseau, The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897. Courtesy Museum of Modern Art, New York and Artland Magazine.

For an artwork to become permanent, it must become knowable, which is the introduction of itself into public. And it is here where stringencies contained from hereditary forces impose anxieties with comparing Mr. Mendoza’s works with the The Sleeping Gypsy, and judging its superiority in representing dreaminess in public. It is to propose that Steve Turner Gallery is appearing better in public than The Museum of Modern Art. Why is that so difficult to accept? Why is that such a bad thing to believe?

To defeat dogma is to challenge false assumptions of true belief. It is therefore prudent to propose this artwork be represented in a permanently public collection. Hola, Mexico City.

For more information about the gallery please contact:

Steve Turner Gallery

6830 Santa Monica Blvd.

Los Angeles CA 90038