"At its core, NO PARKING is about presence through absence. While no human figures are depicted, the works are rich with the suggestion of workers, commuters, and residents whose lives intersect in the city's dense, chaotic streets. Each vehicle becomes a portrait - not of a person's face, but of their story, their routine, and their resilience. Burned vans and scorched sports cars hint at destruction and renewal, while RVs and idle food trucks evoke themes of mobility, survival, and urban transience."
"The exhibition opens with two large-scale sculptures that immediately set the tone for the experience. These works mimic makeshift "No Parking" barriers and signage - objects that are typically utilitarian, even ignored, in the daily urban landscape. Gonzalez Jr. transforms them into monuments, with rough paint surfaces and accumulated dirt evoking both ancient ruins and modern street debris. This juxtaposition invites viewers to consider the barriers not just as physical obstructions but as markers of time and space."
NO PARKING frames cars, trucks, and vans as cultural and emotional signifiers that stand in for absent people. Works emphasize burned-out shells, tagged surfaces, and forgotten food trucks to evoke Los Angeles' rhythm without depicting figures. Vehicles read as portraits of survival, suggesting routines, labor, destruction, renewal, and mobility. Sculptural pieces replicate makeshift "No Parking" barriers, reimagined as weathered monuments that accumulate dirt and paint like urban ruins. The layered surfaces and neglected forms register time, memory, and the endurance of city life through material traces rather than human presence.
Read at stupidDOPE | Est. 2008
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