Walking the Subject
November 4 – December 23, 2016
Opening Reception
Friday, November 4
7 – 9 pm
In his large-scale watercolors, Javier Tapia dissects the binaries within life, such as good and evil, intellect and primal, control and detachment. Walking the Subject
explores how these opposites manifest in life; abstract shapes and broad strokes become metaphors for chaos and control, or structure and disorder. Much like
traditional Peruvian weaving, Tapia overlaps, subtracts, and reworks layers of watercolor, creating dynamic compositions which emanate physicality.
The Peruvian-born artist moved to the United States in the early 1980s, receiving his BFA and MFA in painting at the University of Texas at Austin (1984, 1987). He currently
teaches in the Painting and Printmaking Department at VCUarts.
Walking the Subject will be Tapia’s fourth solo show at the gallery.
