Hueman Nature by Allison Torneros ~ Opens Sept 22 at Design Matters Gallery

DMG is pleased to announce “Hueman Nature,” an exhibition of works by Allison Torneros. Torneros sets her gaze upon the human condition and the essential dualities that permeate our lives and consciousness. The show features collaborations with Justin Jackson, Cryptik, and Brandon “Monk” Munoz.

As the artist opines, “We as Huemans all have our vices, our bad habits, and we tend to be drawn to things that simply aren’t good for us, even if it brings us pain.” This is Hueman Nature...

There is a golden-flecked moment where the line between being asleep and being awake is opaque and blurred; there is a distinct point when something is neither grotesque nor beautiful but both; there is an celestial flash where the worlds of pleasure and pain fuse together before falling apart again. These kinds of Hueman experiences, informed by the duality of their nature, form the hallowed ground that Allison Torneros treads upon and translates onto canvas, paper, and wall. She captures these Jungian flashes and lets the audience erect their own, crystalline tales. Her work is not meant to answer existential questions any more than a shooting star is meant to explain the cosmos. Yet, the microscope contains the macroscopic and back again. All and nothing is explained in the blink of an eye.

She begins by throwing paint onto a surface. Later, she returns to the piece to “read” it. During this time, she decodes the random composition as the tension and inter-play between the abstract and figurative elements develop and evolve. Drawing from anime, comic books, graffiti, fashion, the paranormal, Art Noveau, Romanesque, and Gothic art, she organically creates psychedelic, ephemeral work inspired by the limitless capacity of human consciousness and dreamscapes. Always questioning what it means to be human (specifically relating to Maslow’s hierarchy of basic human needs), she trains her eye upon human psychology and the emotional landscapes that define our universe. How does one find the balance between: the profane and the sacred? Life from death? Abstraction and form? Basic need from vice and folly?

Born in 1985 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Allison Torneros started drawing at the age of 2. Her early passion for art, coupled with her being reared in Silicon Valley led her to pursue both digital and traditional avenues as a means of expression. At 11 years old, she designed her first website; after graduating high school, she began exhibiting her artwork in galleries. Torneros graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008 with a degree in Design and Media Arts. During her senior year, she formed CircleDot--a creative studio whose clients include Disney, Proctor & Gamble, as well as celebrities and innovative start-up companies. She currently lives in Los Angeles.