Few artists in Denver are pushing the boundaries of creativity in the way Diego Florez-Arroyo is currently doing. His work, which runs across several genres all at once, feels like an experiment on what is possible for one person to produce.
Florez-Arroyo, born and raised in the city’s Northside neighborhood and still in his 20s, is probably best known as a musician, a multi-instrumentalist and a member of Los Mocochetes, the popular, and politically-minded, Chicano funk band that plays gigs across the region.
Diego Florez-Arroyo uses concrete blocks as the structure for his floor sculptures. (Provided by Union Hall)
He also is a poet and a playwright, and had a work produced last year at the Holiday Theater in North Denver. The piece, titled “Cuauhtémoczin,” was a reflection on contemporary prison life but full of references to Aztec mythology.
But he also is a visual artist who makes paintings, murals and sculptural objects, which are all featured in his current solo exhibit, titled “WARNING: Mi Amá,” at Union Hall in downtown Denver.
The art exhibit has varied, disparate elements — three-dimensional installations, traditional paintings, murals applied directly to the walls — though they all come together in an immersive way. Everything is connected, either through the raw materials the artist uses or through the show’s theme of motherhood.
Florez-Arroyo defines that term broadly. Think of it in one way as Mother Nature, guardian of the Earth; in another as the female of the species who gives physical birth; in yet another as the universal “mom” figure who raises us as youngsters and forms our impressions of the world we live in.
As for Mother Nature, she is not doing so well these days, and Florez-Arroyo has many ways to express that idea — most notably, a large-scale painting on the back gallery wall that weaves together numerous views of a planet under stress.
The piece is full of vibrant colors, brilliant reds and greens, but it evokes extreme heat, polluted waters and melting ice. There is a fragility to the scene, enhanced by the fact that the canvas is actually stapled to the wall rather than formally installed. It has the aura of impermanence.
The exhibit includes this recreation of a family living room. It is a work of art, but visitors can sit there, too. (Ray Mark Rinaldi, Special to The Denver Post)
Like many Chicano artists, Florez-Arroyo relies on Aztec imagery to express ideas. The show includes several site-specific murals, drawn on various walls, that depict Aztec deities in female form, all in the line-drawing style famously used in the pre-Columbian era.
Florez-Arroyo puts a contemporary spin on these drawings. The figures are warrior types, strong humans, dressed in regalia and armed for battle. But the pictures also emphasize their role in reproduction. In one case, the breasts are exposed. Another appears to be giving birth, with an offspring still attached by an umbilical cord. There is a long history of this sort of heroic, birth-giving imagery in Aztec culture, and this show brings it front and center and connects it to present-day life.
Florez-Arroyo makes that link between past and present in numerous ways, though most notably through a section of the exhibit that recreates his own mother’s living room. The setting includes a sofa and a coffee table, with a collage of family photos attached to the wall.
Many of the elements in the piece, including linens, rugs and a suitcase, are actually family artifacts that Florez-Arroyo has saved. There is also, notably, and entertainingly, a telephone placed on a pedestal. It’s a landline, and clearly a relic from a time now gone.
Florez-Arroyo turns it into an interactive performance piece. Pick it up and you actually hear a conversation he recorded between his mother and himself. (It’s in Spanish, though the gallery guides at Union Hall are happy to explain what’s going on to folks who don’t know the language.)
In some ways, “WARNING” feels like a mashup of too many ideas. The artist also uses the show to talk about rapid technological changes, commercialism and the history of art itself. It’s a lot to take in, though Florez-Arroyo delivers it all with some flair.
Artist, musician, poet and playwright Diego Florez-Arroyo. (Provided by Union Hall)
One of his material tricks is to take store-bought concrete blocks — people also call them cinder blocks — and add on his own concrete facade in the shape of Aztec totems and architecture. It’s a neat treat because once again, it connects past and present — by marrying the contemporary building tools with ancient imagery — while presenting viewers with something novel and curious to look at.
The show, curated by Esther Hernandez, also has a theatrical feel. The gallery is dark, like a theater, and the lighting is exaggerated — more like the spotlights of a play than the usual bulbs aimed at paintings in a gallery.
There is clearly a nice connection between the artist and curator in this show — she gets him — and it works to bring out what Florez-Arroyo offers as an artist, and that is his diversity of disciplines. “Warning” feels like the kind of art exhibit a musician and playwright would produce. It comes alive rather than remaining static.
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There is also a nice connection between the artist and the gallery itself. Union Hall, a small, nimble nonprofit, has lately produced a string of shows by both artists and curators who show serious talent, but are still building their reputations and honing their own visions and skills. The space gives them a chance to grow, in the public eye, and Florez-Arroyo took full advantage.
He will likely be around for a long time, and it will be so interesting to watch his art — in all of its forms — continue to grow.
Ray Mark Rinaldi is a Denver-based freelance writer specializing in fine arts.
IF YOU GO
“WARNING: Mi Amá” continues through Jan. 4 at Union Hall, 1750 Wewatta St. It’s free. Info: 720-927-4033 or unionhalldenver.org.