Armando Román is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in the Midwest. He received his BFA in Studio Arts from Denison University and his MFA in Visual Arts from The Ohio State University. His drawings traverse themes of religion, homosexuality, community, and the metaphysical self.

Join us for his opening of MADE IN HEAVEN – a solo exhibition at The Martin from 6-9pm. From 6:30-7pm Curator Whitney LaMora will lead Armando in an artist talk about the work and the show and open up the floor for guest questions for the artist as well.

RSVPs are free! The Martin has one step up into the gallery – if any guest requires no steps to enter they can come into the building through Split-Rail and enter the gallery. The Martin and Split-Rail both have ADA accessible restrooms.

A card only bar will be available for purchase. Want to dine at Split-Rail before or after your gallery visit? We recommend making a reservation. Stay after and visit our downstairs cocktail lounge, Dorothy (21+).

ABOUT THE SHOW, FROM THE ARTIST:

I am an artist who makes work on paper. The paper varies from colored construction paper, rice paper, and canvas. My work combines digital brushstrokes with physical marks made often with crayons, colored pencils, and washable markers. There is no cultural specificity in my palette or the patterns I employ to remove white space from my compositions. The colors are ambiguously placed, referencing what could be a specific identity-based aesthetic. I think about my compositions in terms of border and center. The center, typically drawn digitally, often does not interact with the border. There is a clear distinction between the two. The surrounding borders are drawn by hand, using a similar palate to its digital counterpart in the center. The relationship between border and center, and its eventual collapse in the work, reflect the competing narrative that exists within my own relationship to Mexican culture.

Color, pattern, and abstraction; I consider these to be weapons with the aim to disrupt the systems of order I was raised to believe were right. Color is bodily. It is a profoundly sensorial tool that, while able to occupy the mind, is felt most deeply in the bones. Color is what allows me to create the work that I do – it dictates the work. Color is both rational and non-rational. While rationality, itself a subjective Western concept, the order is still necessary for understanding how colors relate to one another. Colors are sublime, and the act of coloring is a deeply devotional one. In my compositions, I consider white (space) to be an enemy. I fill my drawings with as much color and patterning as I can. The paper I use, however, works against me. The canvas I work with renders digital ink well, but because of its tooth, small crevices of uncolored white space remain. In a drawing full of color, a visible layer of untouchable white space remains.

Official Website

More events on this date

Tags: Armando Roman, Chicago, MADE IN HEAVEN, The Martin, West Town