The C. Parker Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut, presents its new exhibition “Roberto Juarez: Crossing Five Decades” from now to April 15. The gallery features works created by the New York artist between 1983 and 2023. “This is the first time an exhibition chronicles five distinct eras of art-making by Roberto Juarez,” said Tiffany Benincasa, the owner and curator of C. Parker Gallery. “We are honored to present this group of exquisite paintings, illuminating his position in the canon of art history in the New York art world, for our 10th anniversary season.” The gallery is located at 409 Greenwich Ave., just a 40-minute train ride from Grand Central Station, where one of Juarez’s public commission murals majestically holds court in the Station Manager’s Office.
Juarez’s artistic trajectory is the stuff of New York legends. In 1981, the East Village underground arts ico
n Ellen Stewart offered Juarez an artist studio in an abandoned garage owned by the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. The space, on First Street between Bowery and Second Avenue, had no electricity and was offered to Juarez rent-free. Renowned costume designer Gabriel Berry lent Juarez an extension cord from her studio to his, to provide light and heating. That same year, Juarez was showcased in the New York/New Wave group show curated by Diego Cortez, who united the downtown scene for this history-making exhibition. Cortez selected 35 of Juarez’s works, on an entire wall across from a wall of works by Basquiat.
During the decades that followed, Juarez’s milestones include
A Guggenheim Fellowship in Painting, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and the Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome. He was chosen for a public commission mural installation in Grand Central Station in 1997 and several art-in-public places commissions, including Miami International Airport. Works by Juarez are in the collections of major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Referring to this current exhibition, Juarez said, “This selection of artworks represents the feeling of crossing through different eras of my work. For me, it’s important that my love of painting comes through. I want the joy in my work to always be essential. This new exhibition also points ahead, showing how change and growth are still where I’m at today. What I’m painting is often tropical looking and yet sometimes created in the dead of winter in my studio in Canaan, New York where we can have mountains of snow every day. I think part of this is responding to memory, to my experience of something colorful. The severity of the winter experience in my studio makes me enjoy colorful imagery even more,” he said.
C. Parker Gallery is a full-service art gallery and consultancy celebrating its 10th year in Greenwich. Representing an extensive collection of works by traditional and contemporary artists, the gallery’s inventory features more than 1,800 works from more than 70 artists representing original paintings, prints, sculpture and collectibles.
