Vroom & Varossieau is pleased to present Machangos, showcasing new works by
Mexican artist Jordi Alós marking the artist’s first solo show in Europe.
The exhibition features large-sized paintings depicting habits, daily life scenes
and street performers in a playful, humorous and visually brilliant composition;
and a new series of colourful and vibrant Machangos portraits.
The word Machangos has been strongly used in the Canary Islands to define, in a
funny although disqualifying tone, someone as an eccentric person or a clown.
Hence Jordi adopted this peculiar word. They come to life in 2015, he picked up
this series recently again and since then Machangos are gaining even more
strength. The artist often combines their features with real-life subjects, creating
a unique world of his own that is a paradox: at once cheerful and irritating,
simultaneously familiar and strange.
Shaped by a vigorous and energetic gesture, Alòs’ colourful and naive characters
maintain an element of likeable ambiguity, encouraging viewers to question
whether or not to trust their enigmatic and sly smiles. About his practice, the
artist has recently stated: “l am strongly interested in revealing different layers
of the same personality, often inaudibly. Through my work, I try to make this
condition visible, with the aim of rethinking contemporary coexistence”.
With references to both art brut and realism, Alós’ work focuses on the human
being, his nature and social life. In this exhibition the artist invites us to a
colourful and multilayered world in which he explores the connection between
humans and the environment, daily-life scenarios, a mixture of fiction and reality,
in a way in which he wants to question and rethink our relationship with the
other and our surroundings.
About the artist
Jordi Alós (1993, Mexico City) lives and works in Mexico City.
He has exhibited his work as part of group shows in London, Los Angeles, Hong
Kong, Mexico City. The solo exhibition Machangos with Vroom & Varossieau
gallery marks the debut show of Jordi Alós in Europe.
Alós studied advertising and design at the Institute of Marketing and Advertising
in Mexico City, where he discovered that the limits of "what can be" and "has to
be" gave space for human expression. His work is influenced from both realism
and art brut. Alós himself refers to his practice as art brut, a term used to
catalog the works that go beyond the epistemological plat-form of modernity. He
gashes the bubble of reality with gestural brushstrokes, using acid colours to
depict his cartoonish personas with big eyes.
Drawing inspiration from his own surroundings, movies, music and his personal
life, Alós investigates the contemporary society with its symbols, conflicts and
tragicomic habits. Works of Jordi are in private collections in Dubai, Holland,
USA, UK, Mexico, Spain and Switzerland.
“Machangos” a solo show by Jordi Alós
Opening: 14 May 2pm - 6pm
14 May - 18 June 2023
Vroom & Varossieau
Draaibank 10
1505 RN Zaandam
gallery@vroomandvarossieau.com
+31(0)628859359
About the gallery
Established in 2008 by Isabelle Vroom and Olivier Varossieau, Vroom &
Varossieau is an international art gallery that specialises in contemporary art,
old-school graffiti and emerging art. Vroom & Varossieau quickly gained
recognition in the art scene with their collection of secondary market works as
well as their representation of artists.
At the conception, the focus of Vroom & Varossieau was on street art, with
names such as Banksy and Futura dominating the collection at the gallery.
Throughout the years this focus has shifted towards contemporary art and
emerging artists, with street art and urban art still at the base of their vision.
Vroom & Varossieau works together with a wide variety of established artists, as
well as talented artists that have yet to create a name within the art world.
Their collection spans from the street art veterans (e.g. Richard Hambleton,
Futura, Banksy, Blade, Kenny Scharf) to the young talents of today. This varied
portfolio shows the open mindset of the gallery: you do not have to be perceived
as a great artist to be a great artist. Vroom & Varossieau always has its eyes on
the future and receives the fresh minds of emerging talent with open arms. This
allows the gallery to lead the curve and act as trendsetters within the ever-
changing art world, rather than waiting until it is accepted by the mainstream.
Vroom & Varossieau has also established quite a name within the art scene as
refined art commissioners, with a fine portfolio of murals and restaurant interiors
under their name. This is where creative placemaking comes to the surface, a
process that allows for a more direct and expressive relationship between the
audience (or client) and the artist. This process reflects perfectly in Vroom &
Varossieau’s principles. Vroom & Varossieau helps in public art projects that link
the community to different features of art-making processes, while it also aims
to create a sense of property and pride over public spaces which the community
itself can share with the artists.
Another service that Vroom & Varossieau provides is advising private collectors in
buying and selling works of art (private sales). After being active in the art world
for several decades, Vroom & Varossieau has gained an exquisite understanding
of the value of artworks and how to acquire certain pieces of art. Therefore,
Vroom & Varossieau is more than glad to help in this process and share their
experience and knowledge with the world. The gallery is situated in Zaandam,
The Netherlands, but its scope reaches far beyond that. Vroom & Varossieau is
present at global art fairs such as Art Miami, Urban Art Fair Paris, The Moniker
Art Fair London, Art Rotterdam, Art Antwerp and various other world-renowned
fairs. Their international scope allows Vroom & Varossieau Gallery to be placed
among the leading galleries in the street art scene as well as the contemporary
art world.
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