Trujillo, Paumier /
Zona MACO

For Zona MACO 2016, De Soto Gallery presented a selection of works by Joaquin Trujillo and Brian Paumier from their respective solo projects, Mal de Ojo (Trujillo) and Act of Faith (Paumier). After years working together under the name TrujilloPaumier, both artists pursued deeply personal bodies of work that are autobiographical, mystical, and cathartic. Shown in dialogue, their practices speak to transculturation and the layered connections between past and present, here and there.

Joaquin Trujillo’s Mal de Ojo (the “evil eye”) is rooted in childhood memories of falling seriously ill in his hometown on the outskirts of Zacatecas, Mexico. When scarlet fever—believed to be caused by a curse—nearly took his sight and his life, his family turned to a local curandero (healer) for help. The series unfolds in two parts: theatrical reenactments of the artist’s trauma and tabletop arrangements of folk remedies, amulets, and totems. Presented as diptychs and triptychs, these scenes explore themes of isolation, protection, and spiritual belief. Trujillo began the project in Varanasi, India, drawing inspiration from Hindu rituals related to the evil eye, and continued the work across Mexico and the United States. This movement through geography and time becomes intrinsic to the work, echoing the ways cultural memory is transmitted and transformed.

Brian Paumier’s Act of Faith stems from a promise he made to the Virgin of Guadalupe, his adopted patron saint, after surviving an ambush in Iraq. The project is both an offering of gratitude and a meditation on faith, masculinity, and identity. Paumier’s images and objects reappear in different forms—photographic prints, handmade books, devotional objects, and elaborately adorned cuadros (panels) featuring stickers, glitter, appliqués, and spray paint. These works are often arranged in altar-like installations that blur the sacred and the personal. Through repetition and layering, Paumier chronicles his experience as a soldier, an artist, and a collaborator, mapping a visual language of devotion and self-discovery.

Joaquin Trujillo (b. 1973, Los Angeles; raised in Zacatecas, Mexico) holds a BFA from Art Center College of Design. His work is in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Amon Carter Museum and has been featured in exhibitions such as Portraits and Other Likenesses (SFMOMA) and Color! American Photography Transformed (Amon Carter Museum).

Brian Paumier (b. 1973, Oxnard, California) received his MFA from ICP/Bard and BFA from Art Center College of Design. His work is included in public and private collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 21c Museum Hotel, and the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection. His first monograph, Act of Faith: A Soldier’s Manda, was produced with the support of ICP and the Adams Fund.

Their collaborative work as TrujilloPaumier has been exhibited internationally and is held in the permanent collections of The Weisman Foundation and The William Benton Museum of Art.