Herman Aguirre’s powerful paintings respond to Chicago shootings, Mexican drug cartel violence
Updated 5:32 AM;
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CLEVELAND, Ohio The centuries-old medium of oil paint can be incredibly expressive in the right hands. A powerful case in point is the museum-quality solo exhibition on the work of Chicago-based Mexican-American painter Herman Aguirre at Abattoir gallery in Cleveland.
Entitled “Ocultos,’ Spanish for “hidden,’ the show focuses on 14 paintings depicting impromptu memorials, mass graves, or sites of protest related to gang violence in Chicago or drug cartel killings in Mexico.
It’s grim material, to be sure. But Aguirre’s imagery is paradoxically lush, colorful, and highly emotive in ways that engage a viewer’s sympathy and attention. You can’t turn away.