Collectors Contemporary presents Los Peregrinos (The Pilgrims), a solo show by David Gremard Romero. This exhibition and sale will run concurrently at Collectors Contemporary and the Club 21 Gallery.

David Gremard Romero's paintings and drawings are redolent of Classical allegory and executed in a technique that recalls the late Renaissance and the subtle nuances of Mannerist portraits. Throughout much of his body of work, figures, or characters, are depicted in the throes of transfiguration.

The unifying themes behind his current series are Lucha Libre (Mexican Free Wrestling) and the confluence of cultures brought about through conquest and emigration in the Americas, both ancient and modern. Gremard Romero's works deal with the syncretism of Lucha Libre costumes and pre-Hispanic and colonial mythology. He brings a contemporary Chicano perspective to colonial painting and the textile traditions of the Americas. More importantly, though, Gremard Romero addresses larger issues of multiculturalism, the shared and painful history of humanity, as well as the politics of identity.

"The central preoccupation unifying all my work is an engagement with the practice of the old masters, particularly those of the Baroque and Rococo periods. Their perfection of craft, their exploration of narrative modes, and their explicit connection to history and politics are a source of continuing fascination and inspiration to my work. Embedding contemporary iconography and themes in a classical figurative craft, I seek to tease out the hidden relationships and continuities between classical art and current culture."

David Gremard Romero