It seems appropriate that days before Julio Anaya Cabanding was to open his solo show Tales in Tokyo at NANZUKA, the Mona Lisa was attempted to be defaced in Paris. The reason this is significant and connects is the way we look and revere the Master works of previous eras, what they symbolize and how we are attached to their meaning even if the centuries and decades have passed. Context matters as to where we see these works of art, and that the Mona Lisa was defaced in a museum but seen mostly on social media in our own homes and daily lives shows the evolution of art history. Cabanding is playing with this. 

For years, he has placed past Masters works on the streets, meticulously painted and jarringly out of place but also in place. We should see these works drifting in and out of our daily commutes. They are part of history and often we don't even know why. His gallery practice, taking those Masters and again accurately painting them on discarded cardboard and found objects further exemplifies our relationship to art and how we see and where we see. —Evan Pricco