Painted Lady, 2007, Oil and graphite on panel, 48" x 40	Composition with Pairs, 2007, Oil and graphite on panel, 48" x 40"

James Harris Gallery is pleased to present Free Mustache Rides, an exhibition of new paintings by Marcelino Gonçalves. Inspired by a collection of Polaroids a friend gave to him, each of the compositions is an intimate snap-shot that vividly captures the cultural particulars of the 1970s. In Gonçalves last exhibition (2005), the artist's paintings were based on photographs of a summer Boys camp from the 1970s. With this new group of paintings, Gonçalves continues to explore the underlying psychology of masculinity but now nostalgic stereotypes of men and women mingle between quintessentially stylized interiors. A couple in matching red pants tenderly pose; they gaze outward while their pet saluki looks up toward them. The artist has carefully painted objects, flowers, furniture to act as signifiers not only to imbue a sense of past but also to comment on the subject’s relationship. In another, a woman sits poised perfectly with lavender eye-shadow, pert red lips and a sexually charged gaze. Her pose is a counterbalance to the macho gesture of the male figures in the other paintings.

Each composition is embroidered with stylistic elements to evoke the forgone decade but Gonçalves’ stylistic techniques update the work. His use of color is contemporary, building a mood, reflecting on, and questioning ideas of gender. Gonçalves also builds a romanticism into the compositions that powerfully captures the spirit of the 70s and poignantly draws attention to how things have changed.

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Marcelino Goncalves' work was recently on view in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in a show with Tim Gardner and Zak Smith. He received his MFA from UCLA and has work in several prominent private collections