Family Fables  

​ “Family Fables” is Juan Rojo’s fifth solo show at Jay Etkin Gallery. The surreal and the magical have taken center stage; images veer from phantasmagorical to jubilant and luscious, creating a contrast between the familiar and the bizarre. It possesses darker undertones that his previous work but also an even bigger exaltation of color, life, and painterly enjoyment. There are still significant references to Renaissance and Baroque tropes, hidden in plain sight, for the viewer to discover. In Rojo’s new body of work Art history blends with the secret stories behind the portraits to create a mysterious exhibition that sincerely embraces formal beauty, drama and artifice.