Never Too Late

Nehemiah Cisneros

February 20 - April 22

Gallery Reception: March 16, 5 - 8 p.m.

Never Too Late is a survey exhibition of work created by Nehemiah Cisneros between 2016 and 2022 during his academic training as a student of the arts at Santa Monica College, Kansas City Art Institute and the University of California Los Angeles. The exhibition features selections by Cisneros, what he refers to as his “greatest hits” leading up to completing his graduate degree at UCLA.

Nehemiah Cisneros’ paintings bring to life magnified expressions of humanity through grotesquely exaggerated renderings of authority figures and icons. His work merges the graphic aesthetics of 1990s skateboard graphics with the theatrical scale of Baroque painting from the 1600s. Informed by his experiences of growing up in Mid City Los Angeles, Cisneros utilizes the imagery and history of cultural stereotypes to explore the socio/political relationship between authority and people of color. Cisneros examines how mainstream culture, criminality, and the judicial system affect and continue to fail marginalized communities through his juxtaposition of historical and fictional imagery. Through satire, Cisneros highlights the fetishized worldview news media consumers have become addicted to seeing. Nehemiah received his BFA in painting from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2021 and is the recipient of the New Opportunities Fellowship at UCLA School of Arts and Architecture, where he will complete his MFA in 2024.