Patricia Monclus

que te vaya bonito is an expression as much as an incantation, a benevolent utterance immersed in generosity and altruism. It is an authentic manifestation of what facing one another in impermanence means. It fosters sincere bonds of reciprocity and recognition regardless of the outcome. And it is also a farewell that gives way to new beginnings.

This exhibition offers a space for the contemplation of these ideas and a testament to the dedication of the participating artists to each other and their community. que te vaya bonito is Tactile!’s inaugural group exhibition, showcasing eleven practitioners working in abstract, lyrical, and landscape painting along time-based work and sculptural forms that seem to suspend the transient.

que te vaya bonito is tinged with melancholy, too. Renowned ranchera vocalist Vicente Fernández, in his 1974 heartfelt song bearing the same title, sings, “que te vaya bonito… que se acaben tus penas,” a feeling echoed in Valeria Guillén’s weeping teardrop which cries tears that rustle like leaves. This is also true in Kyle Joseph’s fluorescent curvaceous sculpture, which recontextualizes its steel components in a new arrangement as if these pieces had always yearned to be something else from the beginning; Luis Colina’s abstracted shipwreck depicts a bleak, irremediable scene, tinged in sorrow reflective of the realities of migration; and Jon Millan’s clay stack stacks hope for intergenerational well-being.

Rafael Alvarez and Alejandro Valencia explore the scale of que te vaya bonito through hovering organic forms that bracket the experience of this goodwill between the cosmic macro and the biological micro. At the same time, Patricia Monclus’ tranquil, lush landscape is inhabited by rabbits seemingly moving in acquiescence from or towards something that looms outside our vision. While Emma Del Rey’s images give us a meditative glimpse, a search into an inner landscape of acceptance. Frankie Morales’ lyrical and narrative painting presents an almost dichotomic creationist story with characters caught between forces of union and separation. And Anthony Anaya’s & Gabriela Beltran’s video work is concerned with perception and the relational as temporal.

Tactile! warmly invites you to gather in kindheartedness, awareness, and curiosity for this moment, knowing that we, too, will bid each other farewell.

And when that happens,

que te vaya bonito.

* Curated by Jon Millán for Tactile!