Roberto Juarez left Los Angeles for the Big Apple in 1981. He soon had a fortuitous run-in with Ellen Stewart, the founder of La MaMa, who offered him his first private studio—rent free. Within the year, his work appeared in the exhibition “New York/New Wave” alongside an array of unknowns—Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kathy Acker, David Byrne, and Sarah Charlesworth. Not a bad start. Juarez moved beyond the floral paintings for which he was best known, and by the new millennium his style was largely abstract, employing geometric forms previously unseen in his canvases. At C. Parker Gallery, a Juarez retrospective spans his entire career, emphasizing the differences between the “five eras” of his art.
—Jack Sullivan