I approached Kevin Umaña’s solo exhibition, Moonglow Metanoia, and found sunsets broken by horizontal fixtures—textures attempting to exist together, mimicking the sky’s chromism against a cityscape. Kevin reminisced about driving through Pasadena with his brother, listening to “Moonglow” by Benny Goodman. I recalled similar memories of driving in Northwest Pasadena with my lover, claiming homes as ours, basking in the brilliant purples and pinks of the setting sun. Remembering beauty and destruction, I asked the land, “How should I hold you?” and it gestured toward Umaña’s hybrid paintings.
Umaña is informed by his upbringing in El Salvador and Los Angeles, where rural environments intertwine with the manmade structures of metropolitan cities. The ethno-aesthetics of El Salvador and Los Angeles, present in the natural materials of these lands and our bodies, demonstrate the hybridity in his work. While the influence of rural and cityscapes is equidistant in Umaña’s work, I am moved by his use of abstraction to preserve manmade and natural landscapes.
In his hybrid paintings, wandering elucidates the need to preserve the remnants of life. The architecture, flora, and fauna are in constant threat, and future generations will suffer the effects of shifting baseline syndrome, forgetting what a healthy and thriving environment encompasses. In the wake of the environmental and manmade turmoil caused by the Eaton Canyon Fires, his work became a respite for me. I am grateful to Kevin for preserving the natural and manufactured remnants of our city’s landscape, sky to mountain, foothills to structure, structures to me.
Moonglow Metanoia
The Pit Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA