The work of Dallas-based painter Francisco Moreno has earned national acclaim, with a solo exhibition slated for January at San Francisco’s COL Gallery.
Moreno has shown his paintings in both solo and group exhibitions in Dallas this past decade, including “Demons” at OFG.XXX in 2021, “Chateau Show” at the Aldredge House in 2022, and the newly opened “Eugenics in the Garden” at the Tureen Gallery in Oak Cliff.
Born in Mexico City, Moreno holds a BFA from the University of Texas at Arlington and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Yet it was in Dallas that his art career gained momentum, with his intricate paintings being shown in several noteworthy art spaces, including F6 and Oliver Francis Gallery.
In 2019, he caught a huge break with Erin Cluley Gallery adding his piece Chapel to its permanent exhibition.
“I’m very grateful for Erin Cluley Gallery,” Moreno told the Dallas Observer. “We did some great things together. She saw I wanted to make very ambitious projects, and it’s always great to have support for my crazy ideas.”
The 3D immersive painting measures 13 feet tall and 16 feet deep and features Moreno’s then-signature black-and-white style.
Moreno’s style changed after a trip to Italy.
“After going to Rome and seeing all the frescoes of the Renaissance, I wanted to paint in color. I also wanted to start painting mythological narrative paintings, or history paintings,” Moreno told the Dallas Observer.
Being inspired by European Masters like Sandro Botticelli launched Moreno on a path filled with new obstacles, including distilling himself — a self-described “maximalist” — onto a minimalist canvas.
“It’s also a practice in restriction,” Moreno told the Dallas Observer. “How do I make a painting that is all me? Simplifying my vision to a rectangle is the hardest challenge as a maximalist.”
This shift in approach can be seen in his acrylic painting Melancolia II, currently on display in Oak Cliff.
“Intrigued by the enigmatic nature of Dürer’s etching, Melancolia, 1514, I found myself inspired to embark on a personal artistic journey,” he explained in a post on Instagram.
“Over the course of several weeks, I meticulously crafted a preparatory drawing. It was during this process that a prevailing atmosphere of melancholy seemed to pervade the consciousness of those around me … it seemed only fitting for the focal point of my artwork to embody a winged figure steeped in melancholic contemplation,” he added.
Houston-based Cody Fitzsimmons, who founded Tureen Gallery with Chris Scott, explained that Moreno’s Chapel first caught his attention, and he is thrilled to include the painter in the “Eugenics in the Garden” show.
“I wanted to show artists appropriating Western aesthetic ideals and how they are using them for their own end,” Fitzsimmons told the Dallas Observer. “For Francisco, so much of what he is interested in, including absurdist humor and art history, makes it a perfect fit because he’s paying homage to the historical art canon while also marrying absurdity to Western art history. This show walks that tight rope.”
Next year, Moreno’s work will be debuted on the Californian art scene at COL Gallery in Ghirardelli Square.
“His work struck me immediately and we are honored to have the opportunity to present a new body of his works in January,” Callie Jones, who founded COL Gallery with Julia Li, told the Dallas Observer.
“Francisco’s paintings are about the history of painting,” Jones continued. “They are as personal as they are fantastical and accept technology tentatively, while fearing its constant encroachment. They are beautiful explorations of cultural hybridity, and while they blend genres and time periods, they are ultimately about the communities we build.”
