Elmer Guevara

Charlie James Gallery is delighted to present a solo exhibition of works by Los Angeles-based artist Elmer Guevara titled House Money.

Elmer Guevara’s work draws experience from his life as a Salvadoran from South Central Los Angeles. Guevara’s latest show House Money, pulls reference from the domestic and Ursula K. Leguin’s The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, in which she defines a binary of stories; the story of heroes and the other being the story of containers. She defines containers as non-heroes which tell the stories of mundanity and collection. Like many other Central Americans living in Los Angeles, Guevara’s family fled El Salvador during the civil war, one that the United States government orchestrated. Due to Guevara’s familial history his work layers containers, spaces, and memories to showcase the non-heroes and their stories of gathering. Through five paintings, small mixed media paintings and several drawings Guevara allows for the viewer to gaze into his own understanding of home.

—Leah Perez

Elmer Guevara (b. 1990) was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Guevara’s upbringing took place in the South Central neighborhood. In the 1980s, his parents fled a war-torn El Salvador finding refuge in the City of Angels. Along with South Central’s vibrant energy and the culture his parents brought with them, he became inspired to reflect on his upbringing and the hybridity of cultures along with the struggles his parents experienced with leaving and adapting to city dwelling. He often constructs narratives by sampling family photos from his youth, reframing compositions that form dialogue about identity and concepts of inter-generational trauma.

Furthermore, he depicts observations from his own and neighboring immigrant families and surrounding environment. Reflecting on his adolescence and into his teenage years, he met with friends, commuting throughout the city on public transit and becoming obsessed with exploring the city’s crevices. This obsession later opened an appreciation for painting and an education in the arts.

In 2017, Guevara received a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Cal State University Long Beach and in 2022 an MFA in Studio Art from Hunter College in New York City. Elmer’s work has been exhibited domestically and internationally at M&B Gallery, F2T Gallery, Residency Art Gallery, Lyles and King, and Barbati Gallery among others.