The new exhibit “I Saw Red” by artist Nano Rubio opens at LAUNCH LA’s gallery on Saturday, June 27 through July 25.

Rubio’s latest paintings explore uncertain times and even more uncertain futures through a trademark sophisticated aesthetic rationale. Rubio’s creative process combines tight and meticulous line drawing with action painting’s explosive energy, defacing his carefully laid backgrounds with bursts of color and smears of paint. Like one of his influences, Gerhard Richter, Rubio is a keenly observant and deeply reflective artist, able to bend non-literal forms to deliver his message in by the most direct means.

The figures in his foreground draw on the flesh-tones and shapes of the human form, yet are distorted and disfigured into sinuous shapes so streamlined and graphically lucid they resemble logos designed by high-powered design studios.

Long associated with warnings and danger, red marks the highest echelon of danger in the Homeland Security Advisory System, adorns stop signs and tells drivers when they are low on gas and has been used to signify our most impulsive emotions, ranging from consuming passion to unbridled rage.

It is these twin impulses toward destruction and creation that Rubio harnesses, creating art as fraught with tension as it is appealing to the eye.

Opening reception for “I Saw Red” is on Saturday, June 27 from 6 to 9 p.m.

LAUNCH LA is located at 170 S. La Brea Ave. Gallery hours are from Wednesday through Saturday, 12 to 6 p.m.

For information, visit www.launchla.org or call (323)899-1363.