AIR Esteben Urbieta Art Opening "Conexo" When the figure breaks, light reveals another truth
Schedule
Sat, 14 Mar, 2026 at 06:00 pm
UTC-04:00Location
84 Bank St, New London, CT, United States, Connecticut 06320 | New London, CT
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In Conexo, the winter 2026 exhibition by Oaxacan artist Esteban Urbieta, we witness an extraordinary moment of artistic fracture—one where the familiar breaks open so that another truth may emerge. Urbieta, born in Juchitán, Oaxaca in 1973 and trained at the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca and the Rufino Tamayo Workshop, carries within his practice a profound dialogue between human beings, animals, and the natural world, shaped by the cultural and mythic vocabulary of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. His work historically centers on symbolic protagonists—fish, birds, trees, and the woman as a vessel of life—figures that embody freedom, sustainability, and familial continuity. Yet during his residency at Expressiones, something shifted. Removed from the warm, expansive light of Oaxaca and immersed in the bracing winter atmosphere of New London, Urbieta confronted a new visual and emotional landscape. Here, the temperatures, the muted palette of the season, and the quiet rhythm of our coastal city introduced a different kind of luminosity—sharper, more austere, more revealing.
It is precisely this environmental rupture that gives shape to Conexo. The exhibition title reflects the core transformation of this body of work: when the figure breaks, light interrupts, redefines, and ultimately reconnects what seemed fragmented. The swirling, polychromatic vortices characteristic of Urbieta’s earlier paintings yield now to compositions with a stronger graphic pulse—more linear, more distilled, shaped by shadow and scarcity rather than abundance. This evolution resonates with the monochromatic tendencies he has explored in series like Birds That Sing Inks, where ink, pigment, and coffee form restrained yet potent gestures.
In these new works, figures appear as silhouettes—sometimes fractured, sometimes dissolving—and it is the very act of breaking that allows the winter light to seep through. The result is a powerful meditation on transformation: an artist reconnecting to his essence by allowing it to be reshaped.
Conexo stands as a testament to artistic vulnerability, renewal, and the profound truths illuminated when an artist dares to inhabit—and be changed by—a different light.
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Where is it happening?
84 Bank St, New London, CT, United States, Connecticut 06320Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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