Two Rooms is proud to present Visions for Civic Gardens, a two-person exhibition featuring Esteban Cabeza de Baca (b. 1985, San Ysidro, CA) and Heidi Howard (b. 1986, Queens, NY). Expanding upon the traditions of landscape painting and portraiture, Cabeza de Baca and Howard challenge conventional representations of place and personhood. Working both in their shared studio and directly within the natural environments they depict, the artists center collaborative and ecological approaches to artmaking. They have been creating alongside one another for over a decade after meeting in 2012 at Columbia University’s MFA program. 

Cabeza de Baca’s practice intertwines temporalities, histories, and cultural narratives. Incorporating plein-air painting with material experimentation, his paintings and sculptures reveal multiple dimensions of landscapes that are both observed and imagined. Howard is primarily a live portrait painter, channeling her sitters’ spirits into bright colors and wild patterns. She connects with her sitters through shared memories, conversations, and ideas. Howard then lets these conjured perceptions and associations guide her paintings. 

In Visions for Civic Gardens, Cabeza de Baca and Howard share paintings and sculptures that reimagine San Diego’s past and future landscapes. Their work envisions a borderless city where humans and plants coexist and flourish. Drawing on both art historical references and contemporary political concerns, the artists explore the garden as a space of shared resources and civic possibility. Their paintings present speculative infrastructures that include outdoor activations, public restrooms, communal living spaces, and plant houses. Many works are influenced by Niki de Saint Phalle’s sculpture parks and her ethos as a feminist, activist, and collaborator with her partner, Jean Tinguely. 

Prior to the opening at Two Rooms, Cabeza de Baca and Howard will give a joint artist-talk at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, where Cabeza de Baca’s painting, Long Lost Relationship, is on view in Land & Sea.