Alex Becerra

“I believe that all people are in possession of what might be called a ʻuniversal musical mindʼ [...] I do not agree that the laymanʼs opinion is less of a valid judgment of music than that of the professional musician. In fact, I would often rely more on the judgment of a sensitive layman than that of a professional, since the professional, because of the constant involvement with the mechanics of music, must fight to preserve a naiveté that the layman already possesses.”

—Bill Evans, Universal Mind, 1966

Galerie Timonier is pleased to present Jazz Drawings Vol. II: Alex Becerraʼs first solo exhibition in New York City as well as his first exhibition with the gallery.

Most jazz repertories are constituted, in part or entirely, of standards. These are widely understood as musical and/or lyrical guidelines to an ever-expanding songbook - we collectively make our own versions and continually reinvent, restructure, and rethink what it means to perform these compositions. It isnʼt uncommon to parcel these into smaller, fractured sequences and to shuffle, repurpose and reconsider them. These parcels are thought of as “quotes,” and are left for the listener to pick up on - much like a trail of bread crumbs: a sequence of notes that are familiar, a particular tone or attack which are reminiscent of anotherʼs body of work, which help the listener adapt to the expansive musical and harmonic vernacular of jazz. Time and dedicated listening are the only guarantee in terms of pattern recognition.

The present body of work should be thought of as an act of collection and collection, in it of itself, might be thought of as “the struggle against dispersion.” Becerra proposes an all-star line-up much like the superbands of the 1960ʼs, or a personal orchestra akin to a personal fantasy football team. The selection of musicians ranges from the brightest, best known parts of the pantheon, such as Dolphy, Sanders, or Coleman, to more obscure, yet just as canonical, figures like Abdullah, Hannah, or Hino. Much like musical quotation, Becerra borrows references for album covers, interview photos, or liner note illustrations to name but a few. These references are then mashed, overlayed, distorted and entirely reappropriated to create these reimagined depictions of the musicians. There is a kind of compulsion to them, the way a younger person might feel compelled to relisten, reread or rewatch the object of their interest over and over again. That same inertia pushes Becerra to keep on revisiting these portraits, ever reaching for the attainment of the impossible jazz collection. Beyond the obsessiveness there is reverence - one might notice the homogeneity of scale: there are no hierarchies. All who are present figure in Becerraʼs expansive record collection, these works are the artistʼs version of an ode.

When asked about his introduction to Jazz, Becerra cites his undergraduate years at Otis, his grappling to understand the esoterics of a harmonic vocabulary foreign to all but those who dedicate time and patience to them. Perhaps, even, is there a parallel between the sonic and formal disciplines: learning to develop an ear as well as an eye and a hand.

These drawings, spanning 2019 to 2023, are an embodiment of exercise and exploration, not only in a formal way but with equal consideration for typography and color theory. They showcase both works that are made of ballpoint pen as well as ballpoint pen with marker in an exercise of “illustrative mark making,” as Becerra refers to it. The way improvisation might be considered to be spontaneous composition, Becerra articulates all of this by cross hatching immediately to paper without the crutch of prior pencil tracing to render these highly counterpointed and polyphonic drawings.

Galerie Timonier would like to extend its thanks to Karma International, Zürich for its continued support in organizing this exhibition.

Alex Becerra (b. 1989, Piru, CA) lives and works in Los Angeles. He works in painting, drawing, and sculpture. He has had solo exhibitions at Karma International, Beverly Hills and Zürich, Switzerland; Weiss Berlin, Germany; Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago; One Trick Pony, Los Angeles and Levy Delval, Brussels, Belgium. Selected group exhibitions include Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles; Kunstraum Potsdam, Germany; Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles; Brant-Timonier, Florida; The Journal Gallery, New York; Richard Telles Gallery, Los Angeles; The Green Gallery, Milwaukee; Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, New York; and Ben Maltz Gallery, Westchester, California.