Renzo Ortega

"Almost Ten Years of Hits"
July 24, 2009 - July 26, 2009
Reception
Saturday, July 25, 7 - 10 pm

AES Gallery is pleased to present "Almost Ten Years of Hits", an exhibition of works on paper by Renzo Ortega. Renzo is a Long Island City-based artist for the past six years and has been a part of Long Island City's Local Project since 2003. All proceeds of the artist's work will go toward his upcoming R-tronika album release "la Roosevelt y los Jackson Heights."

Renzo was born in Peru in 1974 and grew up in Lima during a time of civil war, kidnappings, and constant violence. He studied painting at La Escuela Nacional Superior Autonoma de Bellas Artes de Peru, a university where art- making was strongly influenced by young Peruvians' struggle for social justice and free expression under the dictatorship of Alberto Fujimori.

After graduating with the First Honorific Mention in Painting, Renzo continued his studies at New York City's Art Students' League and quickly became more involved in the New York City arts community. His current projects include No Violence Music and the Resistance Music Festival, a series of concerts seeking to promote peace and social consciousness among youth.

Renzo's works on paper encompass ten years of drawings and painting done in a variety of media. The artist's group, R-Tronika is a politically conscious, multilingual elctro-punk collective, known for singing in Spanish and English, as well as for integrating diverse genres such as techno, punk, ska, hip-hop, dub, reggae, rock, and Andean music.

More information about the artist's visual and musical work may be seen at www.renzoortega.com and www.myspace.com/rtronika.

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