MiraCosta College’s Art Gallery: ‘Head Strong’

The art exhibit “Head Strong,” featuring the work of artists Carolyn Castaño, Rubén Ortiz-Torres, Iana Quesnell, Vallo Riberto, Gary Singer and Chris Warr, will be on display January 29-February 21 in the Kruglak Gallery, located inside the student center at MiraCosta’s Oceanside Campus, 1 Barnard Drive. 

 “Head Strong” is an exhibition that brings together six contemporary artists responding to the long-standing tradition of portraiture in the context of contemporary and personal persepectives. The artists’ point of expression engages and challenges traditional conventions. Linked by a similar passion, the artists are diversified through personal perspective, background and media. Artworks include sculpture, drawing, painting and video. 

All of the artists reside locally, four in San Diego, one in Tijuana, and the other in Los Angeles.  Here is a rundown on the artists:

Carolyn Castaño is an artist from Los Angeles. Her work in this show comes from her series entitled "It's Complicated", large scale flat and color-drenched diptych paintings of famous drug lords and their mistresses and or lovers.

Vallo Riberto, an artist and instructor at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, works in the tradition of artists painting other artists and their friends. His loosely painted works on paper capture a stunning likeness of the subjects' individuality and represent a subculture of the art community.

Iana Quesnell, an associate faculty member at MiraCosta College and USD, lives and works in Tijuana. She is sharing with us work from her series of graphite self portraits posed with a sombrero on the tourist attraction donkeys from the streets in Tijuana. Looming in the backgrounds are indigenous Pre Columbian gods and goddesses.

Gary Singer is exhibiting seven framed paintings on paper, selected from an extensive series of portraits inspired by his own sense of self. The images are haunting and dark with little color, both drawn and painted in multiple variations.

Rubén Ortiz Torres, Professor of Visual Arts at UCSD, currently on sabbatical in Mexico City, is creating a series of hybrid identities merging together portraits of family members. "Father Like Son", for example, is a contour drawing that pairs half of his own face with his father's.

Chris Warr, an MFA graduate from SDSU, sculpts heads from upholstery foam, plaster and found materials. Often large in scale, reminiscent of monolithic ancient forms and distorted monsters, they together form a cluster of physical oddities. His video work creates fantastical portrait montages with vocal sound effects and bizarre juxtapositions.

A free reception will be held Monday, February 4, 12-2 p.m., and presentations by the artists will be held February 4 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. 

The Kruglak Gallery offers a diverse range of contemporary exhibitions of interest to both students and the general public. Gallery hours are Mondays and Tuesdays 2:30–7:30 p.m.; Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. The gallery will be closed Monday, February 18. Admission is free. 

For additional information, contact gallery director Diane Adams at (760) 795-6657.