The Brand Library & Art Center announced the return of Art Talks at Brand this spring. This series invites contemporary artists to discuss their work and the issues surrounding it. Each talk will be followed by a moderated Q&A session led by Brand staff member, artist and writer Jennifer Remenchik. The series is sponsored by the Brand Associates, it is free and open to the public.

Thursday, May 1 at 7 p.m. – Nick Aguayo paints compellingly layered abstract works that reveal an inventive approach to the materiality and physicality of paint. Emphasizing the performative aspects of dragging, pressing, brushing and rolling paint onto canvas, Aguayo layers hand-rendered geometric shapes, building his compositions around the tensions between erasure and transparency, accumulation and excavation. Taking cues from collage, Aguayo densely coats his canvases with thick impasto surfaces, textural areas of paint, and materials including marble dust, to create a matte physicality to each composition. He received his BA from the UCLA and his MFA from the University of California, Irvine. His work has been included in group exhibitions and may be found in the collections of The Bronx Museum, Bronx, New York and the Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Springs. 

Brand staff member and program moderator Jennifer Remenchik is an artist and writer based in Los Angeles. Her work has been exhibited in several institutions and galleries, including No Gallery, VIVO Media Arts Centre, HILDE, basement projects, Industry Lab, and The Contemporary Austin, among others. She is a regular contributor to Hyperallergic and has written for CurateLA, BOMB Magazine and Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles. Remenchik began organizing art talks at Brand Library & Art Center to showcase artists who reflect the diversity of the art scene of the greater Los Angeles area.

Visit BrandLibrary.org/Art-Talks for more information on artists in the Art Talks at Brand as well as links to recordings of past programs.