• MSJC
• MSJC Art Gallery
• Current Exhibition

Current Exhibition

The MSJC Art Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Los Angeles artist Tony de los Reyes. This exhibition presents a view of California that is not often considered: the topographic and environmental essence of the regions framed by the US-Mexico border.  De los Reyes approaches the subject as an expanded project, documenting and extrapolating the landscape’s psychogeographical effects.

Using familiar visual elements (native rocks and plants) in paintings alongside acoustic (wind, insects, birds) sculptures and on-site photography, natural elements discharge their persistent, “deep time” energy alongside the border wall’s strident political goals. As visions of organic and mineral matter that generate a timeless sense of being, de los Reyes’ work suggests border regions as spaces creating their own order and chronology,  This event has been generously supported by The MSJC Foundation. 

Dislocation of Space is an exhibition of new paintings from his recent body of work Between Mexicali and Jucumba, where he was inspired by the flora and fauna of the border region at the southeastern end of California. Confounding chromatic harmonies and offering few clues as to their politically charged locations, these works are visually rich, oscillating between documentation and abstraction, and ultimately presenting the viewer with an enigmatic vision of the biological and historic Peninsular Ranges and Sonoran Desert that few ever see. 

Along with the paintings, de los Reyes will present steel “sonic sculptures”, 7 ft tall conical objects that act as recording devices or speakers depending on their location. Created specifically to interact with the border wall with their visual (geometric) and material (steel)  characteristics, they act as on-site sentinels recording aural phenomena. In exhibition settings, they relocate both the recordings and the objects themselves into a “dislocated” space. Presented in the MSJC gallery alongside the visual work, Dislocation of Space creates a visceral embodiment of border zones equally encumbered with trauma, endurance, and vitality. 

Tony De los Reyes is a painter, printmaker, and sculptor born in Los Angeles of Mexican heritage. De los Reyes holds a BFA from California State Northridge and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. He has had solo exhibitions at such galleries as Al Filo de Agua Gallery, La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, MX; Cherry and Martin Gallery, Los Angeles; Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX; Angles Gallery, Los Angeles; Heather James Gallery, and many others. His work is included in institutional collections such as Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Santa Barbara Museum of Art, New York Public Library, and New Britain Museum of Art. His work is currently featured in Declaring America: 1776 and Beyond at the New York Public Library through January 10, 2027, and will be featured in the upcoming Mexicali Biennial.