Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Galeria Contempo is proud to present the works of Abelardo Favela at an opening reception on December 30, 2011, from 6 to 10 pm.

Favela paints with so much joy, poetry and beauty, and a very subtle sense of humor. Women dancing in immense ballrooms; sailors in an improbable musical; musicians who carouse rather than suffer the adversities of their trade; young men of innocent beauty; young women of natural lasciviousness; beloved objects; furniture, plants, trees, the embracing landscape and the ever present fauna.

And always the dogs; noble and sleepy, in control of any situation. Dogs who are eye-witnesses and companions, pharaohs in their realm of overstuffed beds and imperial thrones; dogs who come and go; dogs who stay or leave, always measuring our passage through the world.

The paintings are lighthearted and carefree, full of charm and self -confidence: joie de vivre in its purest form. These elements - with all their substance and significance - are the essence of Favela's work. He is an artist with an inner innocence. His work is big, open and luminous, with an imperceptible unity building from one painting to the next.

The colors are primary, the discourse basic, and the outlook fresh - in fact, these paintings come close to re-creating the innocence of the idyll, the pastoral poem or the still unsullied Garden of Eden. Although his thematic and formal approach might suggest it, Abelardo Favela is not innocent. He captivatingly shows us his inner convictions in indirect forms; he is mischievous, playful, and even naughty. There is a kind of benign subversiveness to his work.

Abelardo Favela is a man of natural wisdom; he proceeds in that spirit and communicates his wisdom to us with great passion. Favela lives with five dogs outside Mexico City. His most recent works can be seen at Galeria Contempo during this week's Southside Shuffle.