Roq la Rue Re-Opens Tonight!

After a month-long remodel, Roq la Rue is re-opening tonight at six with its newest exhibition, a pair of solo shows by Victor Castillo and Brian Despain.

The larger of the two shows is the Castillo's "When the Heavens Open," the Chilean artist's first solo show in U.S. Castillo's work seems to bear witness to the extremes of his country's troubled political history (remember Pinochet and the other Sept. 11?), but then again, there's something very international about war, violence, and extremist politics that lets them translate into pretty much any culture. Add to that the instantly recognizable caricatures of Western consumerism, and it's pretty easy to see which was Castillo's aiming his barbs. In his work, children wander about a dystopian world in which capitalism is synonymous with violence.

The smaller of the two shows is a "mini show" by Seattle artist and previous Roq la Rue exhibitor Brian Despain. In "Blood, Sweat and Gears," Despain returns to his "100 Robots" series, which features futuristic robots (by way of the 1950s) lost amidst emotionally charged landscapes in varying states of chaos, in a strange combination of Surrealism and Expressionism.

opening tonight! // 6-9 p.m. // Roq la Rue, 2312 Second Ave.