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Curating “Velvet Dragons” for Gregg Stone
I’m happy to announce that I’m curating an exhibition for my long time friend Gregg Stone at Eastern Projects in Chinatown. I’ve always been a fan of his art since we started showing his work at my gallery Crewest back in the early 2000’s. He’ll be showing a great body of his incredible work juxtaposed with some of the best prison art you’ve ever seen (which he collects heavily) and will be making it available as well. Below is my curator statement and all the details for the exhibition. I hope you can make it out to his show!
Gregg Stone (b.1952) is a contemporary realist painter based in Southern California and has been painting scenes of Mexican border life for almost three decades. He has exhibited extensively on both sides of the border from California to Texas, Mexicali to Tijuana.
Velvet Dragons highlights Stone’s rich color palette and strong compositions as indicators for the love he has for Mexican people. His subject matter illustrates that love and the excitement he’s searching for with a dash of the danger that he seaks. He captures snapshots of real life at the Mexican border and the soul of the people almost like a documentarian who understands these are all fleeting moments never to be seen again. In several paintings, like “Hotel Zamora”, he beautifully captures the mood and the deterioration of an old hotel, giving the building an almost undeserving yet beautifully nostalgic feeling. Stone is a master in his use of watercolor, gauche and ink. When artists use these wet mediums, rarely do you encounter such rich color with such great precision in line quality but somehow he pulls it off.
The true grit and rawness of his work lies in his realistic approach to his subjects which are mostly women in his paintings. Stone states that many of these women were junkies or women of “ill repute”, but he gives them class and offers them dignity by framing them where they are, in their real lived surroundings not posing them on chairs at some artist’s studio. This is best described in the work titled “Marta on Calle Jon II” where it’s not immediately obvious wether he knows this woman or not, and if he does maybe it’s very intimately? He paints her as if she’s numb, with very little emotion on her face. She’s in the middle of a very busy street in Tijuana, you can almost hear the car horns and the murmur of life on the streets around her. Stone’s paintings are sometimes broken up into two or three very distinct frames or scenes giving the viewer a peak into his state of mind. One such painting is “Stairway to Heaven” in which the artist releases his own inner battles with addiction and mental health by visually describing the beauty he sees in the often dark places he finds himself in. This theme guides you from painting to painting, seducing you with color then hitting you with reality. This leads us to the second half of the exhibition, his prison art collection.
Stone’s love for this forbidden art form started as he was living a certain lifestyle that unfortunately landed him in jail on multiple occasions. Locked up with mostly gangster Latino males, he became enamored with the black and grey tattoo ink work that many of these inmates had etched onto their bodies. Coincidently, the subject matter of Chicano culture and their views of women, drugs and crime seemed to instantly hit a chord with Stone. When he was finally out, he would look online for pen and ink work from inmates that he could purchase and quickly discovered that not only was it available but fairly affordable for him at the time. Stone describes the prison work as some of the most incredible art he’s ever seen. How an artist could use a simple Bic point pen and create shading effects that looked like they were airbrushed onto the surface. Some of these prison artworks on display, like Oscar Campo’s “Orgulloso”, are intricate pen and ink drawings illustrated on multiple sheets of paper and then carefully constructed. Stone has collected some of the very best Chicano prison art pieces available and they compliment each other very well. The pure color of Stone’s work sandwiched between black and white masterpieces somehow emphasizes the never ending search for that next euphoria.
This exhibition gives us an alternative view to love and joy and where it can be found. As the viewer, we are challenged to think of our own demons and angels, our struggles and addictions and even the gift of personal freedom, but most of all where we find the beauty of it all. - Man One, curator.
Some of Gregg’s work that will be on display…
Prison art collection on display…
“Velvet Dragons” by Gregg Stone
July 25 - August 22, 2026
Eastern Projects
900 N. Broadway #1090
Los Angeles, Ca 90012
"CIEN" A Piece Dedicated To My Father
“CIEN”
Medium:
Acrylic, spray paint, paint markers, metallic paint, pumice, oil pastel and paper on cradled wood panel
Dimensions: 6” x 9”
Year: 2026
This painting is my submission for a massive L.A. group show I have been invited to participate in by my friend and well known curator and art critic Mat Gleason (scroll down for full exhibition info). The theme of the exhibition is to create a painting based on your favorite book. The artwork I created is based on the novel “Cien Años de Soledad” (One Hundred Years of Solitude) by Colombian Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel García Márquez. I chose this book because Márquez was my father’s favorite author. My dad informally introduced me to his work by having his books lying around as peripheral reading material all over the house while I was growing up. Whether in the bathroom, living room, or bedroom, he pretty much owned every novel and short story he had ever written and they were all in spanish of course.
I was not too interested in reading any of these books until I was in college where I double majored in Studio Art and Spanish Literature. It was then that I read Márquez’s magnum opus, “Cien Años de Soledad”. Even though it wasn’t my favorite book at the time, I remember having brief conversations with my dad about the book but not really much more over the years.
Then about seven years ago, my father started showing signs of dementia. His condition got to a point where he could remember (or make up) certain things about his life but he didn’t have the attention span to read anymore. He would read a page but not be able to remember what he had just read. He would drift off and become uninterested in reading, which was difficult to see since reading was one of his favorite pastimes.
At this point a few years ago, I decided to get him audio books of Márquez’s novels and short stories and I would sit and listen to the books with him. He loved them! He would listen intently, sometimes chuckle and at times even nod his head as in agreement with the words being narrated as if they were being recalled in his deteriorating brain. Unfortunately, these moments were fleeting and never lasted more than ten minutes. He would eventually get up and walk away after losing interest in the story being told.
Nevertheless it made me happy to be able to share these tiny moments of lucidity with my father. He continues to be my hero and my role model. I dedicate this art piece to my dad, Alejandro Poli Sr. , and our shared experience of reading this great novel. My father passed away from complications due to his dementia on December 6th, 2025.
Love you Pops!
- Alejandro “Man One” Poli Jr.
Me and dad listening to audio book of Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel
Title: “CIEN” (ONE HUNDRED)
Medium: Spray paint, acrylic, pumice, paint markers, oil pastel, paper on cradled wood panel.
Dimensions: 6” x 9”
Year: 2026
This piece will be showing in Downtown LA (alongside over 400 other artists) all summer long…deets below:
WALLS THAT SPEAK @ CHAFFEY COMMUNITY MUSEUM OF ART
Walls that Speak: New Work by Man One, Cosmé Cordova and Joe Ded
Exhibition runs: April 9 – July 26, 2026
This exhibit highlights recent work not previously exhibited in a museum setting by three local mid-career Chicano artists. Each has used his expressive style to both create important works of art and to build community engagement in their hometowns.
Ontario artist Man One’s career as a muralist engages communities of the Pomona Valley and greater Los Angeles by addressing an engaged public on outdoor murals. He is creating an original site-specific mural for Walls That Speak.
In addition to his art practice, Cosmé Cordova has been an inspirational leader in Riverside as the owner of Division 9 gallery. He developed community engagement in the arts as the co-founder of the Riverside Arts Walk and an annual citywide celebration of the arts on Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). His own art is a unique synthesis of graffiti, abstract forms and imagery.
Joe Ded is a versatile artist who is steeped in the Chicana/o mural movement of East Los Angeles of the1970s. Largely self-taught, he is based in Montclair. His iconography draws from a wide range of popular and art historical sources. His art and talent continue to develop as opportunities for large scale works emerge.
These three uniquely talented artists are living evidence of the power of art to be an influential method of individual expression and community engagement.
Check out these opening reception pics from 4/11/2026
by Eduvina Orozco (IG: vina_orostudio)
Chaffey Community Museum of Art is located at:
217 S. Lemon Ave Ontario, California 91761
Phone: (909) 463-3733
Email: info@chaffeymuseum.org
Recap: The Character Show at Overspray in Pomona
Big ups to One Saints and Overspray for curating a great show!
The gallery literally spilled out onto the street with vendors and live painting. Lots of good convos, tagging black books and beats and rhymes by Dj Babu and the homie Rakaa. Enjoy some of the pics below:
Below are the 3 pieces I have in the show.
For serious inquiries contact Overspray
Phone: (909) 310-7952
GRAVE DIGGERS - available at Overspray
WICKED GAMES - available at Overspray
GRAFFBOOKS - Limited edition print available at Overspray
Brown Futurity: Artists and Their Archives
I have been invited to speak on a panel for the Mexicali Biennial this Saturday at Whittier College. I will be presenting alongside Xaviera Flores, Librarian and Archivist at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and artist and cultural worker Sandra de la Loza. Together, we will examine how artists can build, protect, and activate our archives as living documents of creative practice.
Event details:
Saturday, March 21 @ 3:00 pm
Brown Futurity: Artists and Their Archives
Whittier College (Hoover Building 100)
"We Belong Here" - Large Scale Public Art Project
WE BELONG HERE is a public art project collaboration that harnesses the power of creative expression in partnership with local artists and institutions. I was honored to be asked to participate in these large-scale art projections displayed on LA Plaza’s exterior walls. The pieces explore themes of the immigrant and undocumented experience, resilience, and call out the injustices affecting the communities of Los Angeles.
The art is visible nightly at the following five partnering institutions: LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes (LAPCA), California Community Foundation (CCF Headquarters), Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), Japanese American National Museum (JANM), and the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA). Each site presents a distinct selection of images reflecting its own artistic and cultural perspective and will be visible until October of 2026. More info on LA Plaza’s site…click here.
Here is a short video interview I did for the project. Enjoy.