☰ menu

never so close

(2012–14)

The title comes from a line by César Vallejo — "Never did far away charge so close" — which Shepard put at the front of Motel Chronicles. That sentence is Vegas exactly. The whole place promises you something within reach and never quite hands it over.

I painted from photos I took on nights driving the Strip over and over. Casinos, tourists, those mirrored ceilings. Everything lit up and right in your face, and somehow none of it connecting. I kept the brushwork plain on purpose so the images sit there and you feel the gap yourself. Wanting something, not getting it.

Inside the casino, outside in the desert, the same rules. The house wins. Out there, the landscape does the same. People get lost in Las Vegas the way they get lost in the desert. No way back.

[ X ]

Enrique Zabala — Red Rock Canyon Panorama 01, from the series Never So Close. Oil on linen, 81 × 324 cm.

Enrique Zabala — Mandalay Hotel, Las Vegas Blvd South, from the series Never So Close. Oil on canvas, 81 × 324 cm.

Enrique Zabala — Red Rock Canyon Panorama 01, from the series Never So Close. Oil on linen, 81 × 324 cm.

Enrique Zabala — Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas Blvd South, from the series Never So Close. Oil on canvas, 81 × 324 cm.

Enrique Zabala — 3570 Las Vegas Blvd South, from the series Never So Close. Oil on canvas, 81 × 162 cm.

Enrique Zabala — Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas Blvd South, from the series Never So Close. Oil on canvas, 81 × 100 cm.

Enrique Zabala — Paris Hotel, Las Vegas Blvd South, from the series Never So Close. Oil on canvas, 81 × 100 cm.

Enrique Zabala — Red Rock Canyon 01, from the series Never So Close. Oil on canvas, 81 × 100 cm.

Enrique Zabala — Red Rock Canyon 01, from the series Never So Close. Oil on canvas, 81 × 100 cm.

Enrique Zabala — 3570 Las Vegas Blvd South, from the series Never So Close. Oil on canvas, 81 × 162 cm.