Inside a dark gallery at Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, artist Roger Reyes — who is widely known for painting and restoring murals — is hard at work on his new exhibition.
Though the scaffolding and ladders would suggest otherwise, this latest work isn’t a mural. And it maybe one of his most personal projects yet.
“I See Them Run and Hide, Every Time” opened Saturday at downtown Santa Ana’s monthly ArtWalk. The site-specific installation is meant to challenge the viewers’ perceptions of color, which is informed by Reyes’ color blindness.
“I haven’t always been so forthcoming when talking about this,” the GCAC artist-in-residence said. “When it comes to painting, color is part of the process. I have learned how to deal with color.”
“I See Them Run and Hide, Every Time,” a new installation by Roger Reyes at the Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana.
(James Carbone)
Reyes is the co-founder and art director of the Santa Ana Community Artista Coalition, a grassroots organization. He has collaborated with other community leaders, such as LibroMobile’s Sarah Rafael Garcia, creating a story map of downtown Santa Ana. And he worked with Mural Colors to restore Emigdio Vazquez’s “Chicano Gothic” at Santa Ana’s Memorial Park.
Reyes learned he was colorblind as a teenager after taking the standard Ishihara color plate test. At the time, he was actively pursuing a career as an artist and felt distraught over the diagnosis.
“The doctor must have seen it in my face,” Reyes recalled. “But he didn’t flinch or even take a moment. He just said, ‘You know what? No one sees the world the way you do.’ That was all I needed.”
Reframing his color blindness as a skill inspired Reyes to work hard at his craft, developing ways to recognize color on his own terms. When he goes into a project now, he gets the palette down by mixing every color.
“I mix it and remix it, and in a way it kind of programs my eyes so at least I learn how to see it and know what to look for,” he said.
While he said can see green, for example, he can’t distinguish its shades.
“What comes easy to my friends, seeing hot pink or whatever, I have to work for that,” the Santa Ana resident said.
Although Reyes was able to work around his color blindness, it wasn’t something he spoke openly about until now. “I See Them Run and Hide, Every Time” is a reference to the fleeting way colors appear to him.
The exhibition uses scaffolding, acrylic panels, mirrors and industrial piping to immerse the viewer in a fragmented and disoriented environment by tracing colorblindness in three acts.
Roger Reyes works on “I See Them Run and Hide, Every Time,” an installation at the Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana.
(James Carbone)
Act I, for example, incorporates a plexiglass panel suspended on a harness and balanced with a cement block.
“There is tension there and color is a little bit of a mystery,” Reyes explained.
Rows of purple and pink lights bleed into each other in another area of the installation, their similar gradient making them hard to distinguish at certain angles. With industrial materials, Reyes tells his story using typical tools of his trade, contrasted against the changing colors and reflective mirrors that represent his point of view.
Reyes said he can’t help but feel a little exposed, creating an entire installation around something even some of his closest friends don’t know about. He hopes viewers feel compelled to consider the individual ways each person sees the world.
“This is very personal work, this is what is inside of me,” Reyes said of the project that took about two years. “I am ready to have that conversation.”
Reyes is curious to see how the show is received, since it is such a deviation from what he normally does.
“This is my hometown, but I am not known for this at all,” he said. “This is definitely a privilege, and I didn’t take it lightly.”
“I See Them Run and Hide, Every Time” by Roger Reyes is on display in Santa Ana.
(James Carbone)
“I See Them Run and Hide, Every Time” opened Saturday at Grand Central Art Center, 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, and runs through Jan. 1.