Though Boston Court is primarily known for bold and adventurous music and theatre, visual art has long been a manifestation of our mission. We seek to extend the themes of the performances into our lobby, where our rotating visual art exhibits often comment on those themes, and also explore the role of visual arts in a performing arts setting.
ART UPFRONT COORDINATOR
Eric Beal is an artist, muralist, and curator in Los Angeles. As a curator and art installer, Eric has helped shape art shows across Los Angeles and showcased artists virtually. As the co-founder of The Artscene, a contemporary art community, eric has interviewed artists, written, and podcast about contemporary art in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Paris. In his art practice, eric utilizes stencils and spray paint to create symbolic representations through the layering of bold colors and shapes. His work has shown at various galleries, institutions, and fairs across the US and private collections abroad. His murals adorn businesses and walls in Los Angeles and Orange County.
ArtUpfront is made possible through generous support of Z. Clark Branson.
John DeCastro | Jynx Prado
Inter|Section features Greater Los Angeles Area Artists John DeCastro and Jynx Prado, whose work emphasizes expressions of queer and cultural identities. Each of these artists shares their unique ideas of the personal in relation to interpersonal heritage norms and the ritual of co-existence in a larger society.
The title of this show, Inter|Section, describes the works of DeCastro and Prado, who explore their lived perspectives of the subtle and drastic shifts within cultures. The use of bright pigments and striking visual design pair with the artists’ experiences in finding the intersections of culture and contemporary art to highlight queer identity.
John DeCastro’s work reflects on the artist’s Filipino ancestry, speaking to the balance of personal identity and cultural heritage. DeCastro works primarily with black tar paper, embroidered Manila paper, and textiles to create a tactile and visual exploration of craft, texture, and color.
Jynx Prado creates narrative through invented mythological imagery connected to the experience of queerness. Prado uses sculptures, performances, and visuals to intertwine their genderfluid, Latine identity, to embody the irony and absurdity of current events.
John DeCastro
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/decastronaut/ ( @decastronaut )
Website: https://www.johndecastro.com/
John DeCastro is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work explores the intersection of personal identity, cultural heritage, and contemporary compositions. Rooted in his Filipino ancestry, his art bridges the past and present, blending abstract figurative elements with organic forms and Southeast Asian-inspired landscapes. Working primarily with black tar paper, embroidered Manila paper, and textiles, DeCastro’s pieces are a tactile and visual exploration of craft, texture, and color. His use of soft pastels against bold, textural backdrops creates a balance between modern minimalism and traditional Filipino artistry, reflecting a deeply personal connection to his cultural roots and a passion for experimentation.
DeCastro’s work challenges viewers to reconsider the intersection of heritage and contemporary art, creating spaces where the tactile nature of the materials speaks as loudly as the imagery itself. By combining rich, historical traditions with modern sensibilities, his pieces evoke a sense of both nostalgia and innovation.
Jynx Prado
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pradoart ( @pradoart )
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jynxprado.bsky.social ( @jynxprado.bsky.social )
Website: https://pradoartist.com/
Born and based in Los Angeles, Jynx Prado critiques and questions the subtle and drastic shifts within cultures and current social issues and the coexistence of them through an interdisciplinary practice. With mediums ranging from traditional painting and drawing mediums, fiber, found objects, and themself, they create humorous yet uncanny characters and iconography to embody the irony and absurdity of current events and personal to community wide conflicts. Prado creates sculptures, performances and visuals that intertwine their genderfluid, latine identity with historical and mythological texts that act as the artist’s moral compass.
Using fibers and found wooden, metallic furniture Prado creates scarecrow-esque forms to represent a genderqueer, fluid beings that they call “Embodiments” to reflect the experiences of trans and genderqueer individuals. Many of their Embodiments are activated either by the artist in endurance performances or by the audience with installations. Their Embodiments range from humanoid to animalistic forms.
Prado uses painting and drawings to depict iconography related to historical, religious, and mythological imagery that the artist invented to narrate stories that connect to the experience of queerness. Prado brings these images alongside historical narratives to critique and express current events that impact gender, queerness and human bodies.
Visit our Archive call_made for past exhibits.
