John Rivas: Rise above it
François Ghebaly New York is proud to present Rise above it, John Rivas’ second solo exhibition with the gallery and first time presenting at the Lower East Side location.
Salvadoran-American artist John Rivas holds close to ancestry and cultural identity in his work. In raw, expressive scenes of loved ones, domestic life, childhood memories, and familial histories, Rivas aims his art-making through a deeply personal lens, honoring the work and voices of those closest. His practice has long been characterized by material resourcefulness and a necessity-driven approach that layers found fabrics, drygoods, heirlooms, embroidery, gifted materials, household supplies, and painting into earnest, sensitive representations of the people and places around him. In his newest exhibition Rise above it, Rivas expands on his familiar mixed-media vocabulary, venturing into hand-carved and painted wooden sculpture as an extension of the assemblage-based language of his practice. Inspired by redwood carvings in Northern California and global traditions of polychrome wooden sculpture, the eleven works that comprise the exhibition bring to life Rivas's subjects and his enduring painterly interests in labor and cultural celebration.
Throughout the exhibition, Rivas's newest sculptures continue to explore material intimacy and collaborative processes, with several works produced alongside his father, a construction worker who has appeared in Rivas's paintings before and whose tradecraft informs the artist's hand. Labor-intensive and meticulously constructed, many of the works incorporate brushstroke-like carving and modelled fabric folds to create the effect of movement, recalling Renaissance sculptural traditions while depicting scenes from Rivas's own life and memory. One sculpture entitled La Patrona de los Cruzes (2026) references an image taken on his grandmother's birthday and captures her, a devout Christian woman, holding a large machete in a moment of unexpected levity and strength. Another, La Remedia De La Vida es una Chela y Futbol (2026), shows a memory of the artist's father playing soccer, beer and cigarette in hand, enjoying his single day of rest after working six days a week to support a young family. Alongside these intimate family portraits are works depicting Rivas’ life in both the US and El Salvador: street vendors, rural scenes, and quotidian recollections rendered at various scales from portrait-like busts to full figures. In meditations on inheritance, community, and the shaping forces of family, the exhibition reflects on Rivas's own experience of fatherhood against the backdrop of those who raised him.
John Rivas (b. 1997, Newark, New Jersey) earned his BFA from the School of Visual Arts and holds an MFA from Columbia University. Solo and two-person exhibitions include François Ghebaly, Los Angeles; and Ross + Kramer Gallery, New York. He has been included in exhibitions at El Museo Del Barrio, New York; Queens Museum, Queens; Ross + Kramer Gallery, New York; Anthony Gallery, Chicago; and UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles. His work is held in the public collection of the Perez Art Museum, Miami.