Farley Aguilar

"Aguilar presents his crowds and pairings of adults and children from a recognisable past of top hats and parasols, beside their barefooted opposites. Some are dressed in the well worn, gently painted clothing of labour. Some bask in decadent surroundings, the paint globby blobbing here, scratchy scribbling there. His images are rich with symbols of over entitled wealth, cruel poverty, civil war, the American flag, and the looming presence of the oppressive ruling class."
- Farley Aguilar in 'Wall Street International' by Jillian Knipe

Farley Aguilar is a self-taught Nicaraguan artist who uses his paintings to bridge past, present and future socio-political realities. The painting's subject addresses group identity, political allegiance and cultural ritual. Working from found photographic imagery ranging from crowd scenes to portraiture to historical reportage, the artist’s charged paintings invoke a reappraisal of moral doctrine, human nature and the echoing of history. Aguilar uses all manner of brushwork, oil sticks and pencil to conjure these scenes in delirious, lurid colour. Expressive application meets the tight, serrated outlines that spring the figures in Aguilar’s paintings from their textured backgrounds.

Aguilar’s recent exhibitions include 'A Very Anxious Feeling: Voices of Unrest in the American Experience; 20 Years of the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection', Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, US (2020); 'Contrariety', Edel Assanti, London, UK (2019); 'Cleansing', Lyles & King, New York, US (2019); 'We are the people. Who are you?', Edel Assanti, London, UK (2019); 'Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of the Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art', The Mennello Museum, Orlando, US (2018) and 'Temporary Autonomous Zones', Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, US (2015). His work is included in the collections of the Akron Art Museum, Ohio, Pérez Art Museum, Florida, Brown University, Providence and the Orlando Museum of Art, Florida.