Lumbre Mark Whalen & Salomon Huerta

Mark Whalen (b. 1982 in Sydney, AU; works and lives in California, US) and Salomon Huerta (b. 1965, Tijuana, MX; works and lives in California, US) present their first duo exhibition Lumbre with Ruttkowski;68 in Paris.

Lumbre brings together two artists whose practices explore the relationship between people and the spaces they inhabit. The exhibition emerges in the aftermath of the devastating California wildfires of 2025, in which both artists lost their homes.

For Huerta, the exhibition centres on a new series of swimming pool paintings. Inspired by images of flames rising behind suburban homes and reflecting across still water, the works combine two opposing elements. Rooted in memories of cleaning pools as a teenager in affluent neighbourhoods, these scenes transform familiar symbols of leisure into spaces marked by uncertainty and change.

Whalen approaches similar themes through sculpture. His stylised figures, domestic objects, and architectural forms exist in precarious arrangements that balance familiarity with unease. The works reflect on the fragile systems through which people organise their lives, and the vulnerability of the structures they often take for granted.

Through painting and sculpture, Lumbre considers how experiences of loss become embedded within memory, transforming the ways we see and inhabit the everyday. United by a shared experience and distinct artistic languages, Whalen and Huerta reveal how art can become a site of connection, where individual histories meet and resonate beyond themselves.

 

Opening reception       04/07/2026          6–8pm

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