COVER | Alejandro Rivera

Pollen, (oil on canvas). An exhibition of Alejandro Rivera’s recent paintings will be on view in September at Caldwell Snyder Gallery, 341 Sutter St., San Francisco, (www.CaldwellSnyder.com). The gallery summarizes the artist thusly: “To view a painting by Mexican artist Alejandro Rivera is to enter into an alternate universe, a place where time has collapsed, allowing artifacts of disparate civilizations to engage in a continuous and complex dialogue. His works have a labyrinthine, densely narrative quality that invites and rewards extended contemplation. Rivera’s ability to manipulate symbols has allowed for compositions that speak incisively about the timeless, collective nature of human experience. Rivera’s paintings can often be read as allegories of contemporary life—especially in Mexico, where elements of American pop culture have become deeply ingrained in society. Yet for all their depth of symbolism, Rivera’s paintings are not prescriptive. They are, more than anything else, expansive works, testaments to the boundless potential of the human imagination.