DFN Gallery is proud to present Jinetes by Ecuadorian artist Jean-Pierre Arboleda.  In these recent mixed media drawings of chaos and conflict, Arboleda’s reptiles cavort with seemingly benign furry mammals in an otherworldly struggle for domination and territory.  Jinetes (Riders) refer to the smaller animals that harness and manipulate their larger rivals in order to engage and conquer the opposite sex.

Arboleda’s work runs the gamut from nightmarish to comical.  In Sapicidio, Arboleda depicts a hellish, sinewy mass of frogs and reptiles veiled behind a sanguinary ink wash.   Pelea con Pescados, is lighter fare - squirrels, frogs and simian creatures ride larger reptile-horse hybrids and bludgeon each other with fish.  Another comically grotesque image is the (open for Freudian interpretation) anthropomorphic Vagina Monster.  She clutches a limbless frog bubble in one hand as she considers the fate of the Jinete perched upon her snout.

Jean-Pierre Arboleda’s toned drawings are like pages torn from a renaissance master’s sketchbook - as if Leonardo da Vinci had taken art direction from Hieronymus Bosch.  An elegant, classical draughtsman’s delicate touch serves as a counterpoint and restraint to his hallucinatory depictions of primal rivalry.

Jean-Pierre Arboleda was born in Ecuador and moved to the United States in 2000.  He graduated from the School of Visual Arts with his BFA in Illustration and later attended the New York Academy where he received the Chairman’s Travel Scholarship and completed his MFA in Painting.  Based in New York City, Arboleda has shown his work frequently in New York City and internationally.  This will be his first solo exhibition at DFN Gallery.