Roberto Gutierrez is a pioneer Chicano artist who spent the first part of his career capturing the colors of life by painting reflections of his East L.A. neighborhoods. For the second half of his career, Gutierrez explored other landscapes when he fell in love with the romantic beauty of Paris, France and the edgy and bold images of Manhattan’s Central Park in New York. His highly anticipated exhibition on December 14th at Plaza de la Raza’s Boathouse Gallery, will reveal three new art suites: Paris Magic, L.A. Revisited, and Central Park In Winter – brush strokes of metropolitan landscapes.

Paris Magic: After Gutierrez’s breathtaking first Paris collection exhibited in 2013, he knew there would be more from the city that gave him his artistic rebirth. His new Paris art suite is a collection that morphs the spirits of his favorite painters: figurative impressionist Édouard Manet, post-impressionist Vincent van Gogh, landscape impressionist Claude Monet and expressionist Chaim Soutine. “Paris does something to me,” stated Gutierrez. “When I see a particular sight in Paris, I just run with my feelings. I just go with it.” Paris Magic created on acrylic on canvas, watercolors and Sumi Ink drawings.

Central Park In Winter: An art suite of urban expressionism—a visual delight consisting of the captivating Manhattan NY skyline silhouette —skyscrapers, dark amber colors of the trees in Central Park, grey, dark brown and white. This art suite is truly magical…from the horse drawn carriage, the trees with snow capped branches, the yellow cabs, a city in motion, and the Hudson River at sunset. Central Park In Winter created on acrylic on canvas, tie-die/watercolors and Sumi Ink drawings.

L.A. Revisited: Gutierrez made a name for himself as one of the premier Chicano artists depicting East L.A.’s neighborhoods and streets in motion, capturing everyday working class folk living their lives. For him, painting a new art suite of some of the same streets he painted before is like coming home. His new paintings capture the evolution of East L.A. through the decades. It’s like coming home again. Also included in his L.A. Revisited suite are abstracts of the historic 6th Street Bridge that was demolished in 2016, a cathartic expression since he remembers walking across the bridge as a young boy when it was fairly new and recently witnessed a wrecking ball bring it down. L.A. Revisited created on acrylic on canvas, watercolors and Sumi Ink drawings.

His East L.A. paintings and Los Angeles at large, makes Roberto Gutierrez one of the city’s most important contemporary artists of the 20th and 21st generation. And, like Van Gogh, Gutierrez’s paintings represent his own lust for life, and during the second half of his artistic life, were guided by his bohemian heroes—Picasso, Modigliani, and Matissee—back to Paris. His upcoming exhibition represents his evolution as a contemporary artist who has earned his place in the art world.