On a warm August afternoon, Hugo Crosthwaite stepped back from a bright steel-blue wall in the sunlit Bread and Salt gallery. In one hand he held a gold paint pen. In the other he held the cardboard back of the pen’s packaging, covered in gold blobs and splatters. He tapped the tip of the pen on the cardboard to get the paint flowing, and approached the wall again.
On each wall of the main gallery, bright scenes rest on canvases awaiting installation – each wall is painted a different, earthy hue. Color is everywhere.
Crosthwaite is known for his black-and-white drawings, animations and murals that mix Mexican folklore with cityscapes and vivid portraits of the people he encounters on the street, but this new exhibition marks the first time he has ventured into colour.
For each work of art, his process begins with a sketchbook that he always carries with him. It is a practice that he seamlessly honored in his animations — each work celebrates the act of sketching through stop motion. It began in 2019 when a cancer diagnosis forced him to limit the physicality of his art.
“My whole life was reduced to my little sketchbook,” Crosthwaite said in 2021.
But recently he ran out of his last sketchbook and had to buy the only thing that was available nearby: a book with colored pages. He filled it up easily and decided he could do the same thing on canvas – although it was daunting to move away from black and white.
“How do you start using color when you haven’t used color for 30 years? No, I had no idea, but I just said, well, I’ll just do what I do in my sketchbook. I have a color field and in that color field I just draw people, you know, in black and white. Then I trace those color fields onto a canvas and then just draw figures. And then I tie the whole thing together with colored pencils,” Crosthwaite said.
The large canvases exhibited in “Tijuacolor” represent a remarkable colorization of his existing, brilliant practice. To achieve the basic mark-making technique of a sketch, Crosthwaite first painted blocks of color on the canvas and then drew directly on the painted sections.
Each work depicts modern characters in invented scenes inspired by folklore, kitsch and what he calls “narco-luxury.” The decorations on the walls reinforce this kitsch.
During the gallery installation, Crosthwaite drew a golden, gleaming angel nestled in ornate foliage, brandishing a pistol in one hand. It is the first of the ornate murals he plans to fill the gallery with.
“This exhibition is like presenting Tijuana in color and playing with this idea of Mexican folklorism, particularly Tijuana – you know, I grew up in a curiosity shop. So my whole idea of the United States is that as a Mexican, I sell things to the United States, that’s where the dollar is,” Crosthwaite said. “I wanted to carry that idea forward through my work, by selling or presenting something. It’s kind of this idea of luxury, this idea of kitsch, this idea of narco-luxury. This idea of how narcos decorate their mansions in a very baroque and ostentatious way. So that it kind of reflects all of that, like this little Cupid holding a gun,” Crosthwaite said.
One of the paintings is titled “Annunciation,” named after the message the Virgin Mary received from the Archangel Gabriel, telling her that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ. The woman is holding a phone in front of her face. Her expression is modern: a little distant, a little skeptical. A bright red figure hovers above her at one side. A blood-red cloth billows out from a gun nearby.
As always, this work began in his sketchbook when he was on the road and found its narrative structure through his improvisational practice.
“I drew this woman with a phone,” Crosthwaite said. “When I did that, the story came to me. She’s holding a phone. Why? Someone is calling her? Could be Gabriel, right?”
Throughout his career, Crosthwaite has masterfully depicted the urban landscape of Tijuana as a vertical, towering, beautiful collection of homes and buildings. And by translating that style into color, he adds a new level of detail, appeal and history.
In the eponymous work “Tijuacolor,” a young man holds the city of Tijuana as if it were a giant pile of goods on a rack above his head.
“It’s a bit like the story of this guy across the border who’s maybe presenting or selling Tijuana from this side of the U.S.,” Crosthwaite said. “It reminded me of the times when I would drive from San Diego to Tijuana and just see the city rising, you know, this monster of a city – its chaos and its visual beauty.”
While “Tijuacolor” is on view at Bread and Salt, Crosthwaite will also open a new exhibition at the Mesa College Art Gallery, “The Rupture of the White Cube,” featuring more works in color, including an installation of colorful works on paper, stop-motion animation, and a 12-foot cube-shaped sculpture in the center of the gallery. The Mesa College Show can be seen from August 19th to September 12th.
Of course, the cityscape doesn’t end at the edges of the canvas. On the wall where this work hangs, Crosthwaite has depicted a dense continuation of Tijuana’s hills in a silver mural against a rich, deep orange wall.
It’s a holistic approach to colour design, but Crosthwaite has clearly implemented it – in a style that is typical of him.
Details: “Tijuacolor” opens Saturday, August 10, with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. at Bread and Salt and will be on view through October. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bread and Salt Gallery, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights. Admission is free.
