MIXTAPE, an exhibition by FLORIA GONZALEZ at JO-HS, New York

New York, NY (September 5, 2023) — JO-HS is thrilled to announce its upcoming exhibition, MIXTAPE, featuring new works by Monterrey-born and Mexico City-based visual artist Floria Gonzalez. The exhibition opens on September 5, 2023, and will be on view until October 5, 2023, at 121 Watts Street.

In MIXTAPE, Gonzalez looks back at the early stages of her creative career in the late 80s andearly 90s, a time when she recollects waiting on the radio for hours in order for her favorite song to play, calling the radio DJ to increase the chances of recording the full track–all in an effort of putting together the perfect mixtape. Those collections of songs became a symbol of Gonzalez’s memories and in MIXTAPE the canvas acts as a page of her personal journal where the artist’s mix of ideas, lived and made-up stories transports the viewer to parallel universes and eerie dreamscapes.

For instance, In Too Young To Die, an ode to the song by M Ward and First Aid Kid, the artist paints a pipe dream where lovers reconcile at a remote gas station set against a Lynchian coast. Sound and Vision, a reference to Bowie’s anthem, captures the solitary howl of a lone wolf against a serene blue evening in a quest for personal liberation. In Thanks for the Dance, Gonzalez presents an ever-mutating house amid a gray and somber landscape, echoing Leonard Cohen's contemplation of the fluid nature of love and lust.