Artist: Robert Nehemiah and Elmer Guevara
Exhibition: Immaterial
Media: Paint, canvas, scrap metal, cardboard, wood, tarp
Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery West
Instagram: Robert Nehemiah – @3lmski1 and Elmer Guevara – @wookieewarrior
About the Artists
Robert Nehemiah and Elmer Guevara are both from Los Angeles, but attended different colleges at the time. In the past, Robert Nehemiah attended Rio Honda College and Elmer Guevara attended EAST LA College. At one point in time, Robert attended a fire academy to become a firefighter, but later on he was influenced by his past courses and decided to pursue his true passion in the Arts. Elmer on the other hand always had an interest in the arts from the beginning. He was influenced by his older cousins and friends. They introduced him first to graffiti and paintings which he had use in the past. The two eventually met and decided to collaborate, because of similarities with their art, and make the exhibit.
Formal Analysis
All the paintings are formed around a central theme of a person and their environment. The paintings are drawn on a number of materials ranging from cardboard, wood, and tarp. The colors in the painting are darkened and feel very dull. Robert’s paintings are not bordered by a typical shape. Half the paintings have torn edges or look like they were torn from something. Roberts’s paintings have a large amount of shadow placed around or near them and shows that a light was put towards them. Elmer’s paintings have people or background that seemed deformed and unpleasant to look at. His paintings show different backgrounds and same deformed style.
Content Analysis
The idea behind “Immaterial” was to bring about the idea that many people or objects in our materialistic society are thought as irrelevant or useless. Robert focused his drawings on his family and friends, like his mom and grandmother. He used scrap metal to show how some things are just thrown away without a second thought, deemed unusable by anybody. These thoughts lead to Robert goal, to become detached from materialistic matters in his life. On the other hand, Elmer focused on people he met in real life, homeless people being an example. His drawings represent the growing of homeless people in LA and to show what kind of environment they are living in. There paintings represent the people and objects that are tossed away by society and how they can be reused and “recycled” to make the world a bit better.
Synthesis / My Experience
When I saw the paintings on the wall my first impressions was that these guys look like there in a bad spot right now. After hearing the reasons behind the art, I understood why they looked like that. After looking through the art, I can see why some things are taken for granted. Despite looking like trash to you, some things are deemed usable by another person. I also understand, after looking through the art, that I take too many things for granted, so many homeless people on the streets and I complain too much on things they can’t have. People that have no homes just need a little help too get into a better position and so much more can be done to get them there.
Chhin Zone 
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