Isaac Vazquez Avila
El Camino

February 9–April 3, 2022
Opening reception: Sunday, February 13, 1–3pm

The latest installation for Premiere Jr. comes from the mind, and brush, of San Francisco artist Isaac Vazquez Avila, who draws from his immediate surroundings, embellishing memory with imagination to create new versions of our built environment. El Camino shows a hawk with spread wings and talons. A ribbon of text behind the bird reads “sigue en el camino de bien,” roughly translated as “follow the road of good.”

For Avila the hawk suggests ideals of triumph, exploration and strength. Placing a gigantic version of a hawk back into the air — its natural environment — Avila asks viewers to look up (literally) to the idea of doing better. He hopes El Camino can be a moment of introspection and motivation on a busy commercial street.

Isaac Vazquez Avila (b. 1983, Mexico City) is a painter and sculptor living in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. Avila received his BA from San Francisco State University in Latino/a Studies and an MFA in 2016 from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to his practice, he runs a business with his partner Lauren Rose D’Amato designing murals, creating hand painted signs and custom art installations for public and private clients. Avila has exhibited his work at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco; Right Window, San Francisco; Tlaloc Studios, Los Angeles; and most recently pt.2 Gallery, Oakland, where his second solo show will be held in August 2022.