THE SKY PROMISED NOTHING

RICARDO LUEVANOS

JUL 25 – SEP 23, 2026

DIESEL ART GALLERY will present "People Have The Power" a solo exhibition by artist Nanae Mitobe from May 18th (Sat) to July 3rd (Wed), 2024.

“People Have The Power” is the 5th installment in Nanae Mitobe's popular series of exhibitions featuring works inspired by rock stars and musicians. Previous exhibitions titled "Rock is Dead", "War is not over", "Let's Have a Dream!" and "Sit-In" have focused on rock symbolism and the power of music.

“People Have The Power” will provide viewers with an opportunity to engage in deep thought about the power of individual people, the power of the collective, and the role art and music can play in social change.

In addition to the display and sale of new art, T-shirts and related goods produced in collaboration with DIESEL will be on sale at this exhibition.

CONCEPT

The stars who have departed this world are often revisited and reconsidered in the news and social issues as eras change. Even absolute or universal authorities, norms, and doctrines shift. Since the rise of BLM, topics like gender, various races, and colonial history among minorities have become significant for Mitobe, who has always portrayed portraits.

In "People Have The Power", figures who fought against the Vietnam War, black discrimination, societal biases, and those who left significant marks in the pursuit of peace will emerge. Many of the works depicting these fighters indirectly portray images of media stars or celebrities, rather than directly drawing faces seen in the media. Thus, motifs as replicas through the media, such as magazine covers or record jackets, are depicted.

The venue is structured in red, symbolizing struggle and passion, with Mitobe directly applying "graffiti-like" paintings, creating an atmosphere intersecting Shibuya's street culture.

Installation pieces featuring DJ booths express nonviolent fights through music and art, scattering records and instruments, evoking scenes of fights or conflicts. While conveying dire situations at times, they can also carry positive messages standing with resisting individuals.

The sky promised nothing.

We reached for it anyway.

Ricardo Luevanos’ First Solo Exhibition in Asia at DIESEL ART GALLERY.

DIESEL ART GALLERY is pleased to present THE SKY PROMISED NOTHING, the first solo exhibition in Asia by Guadalajara-based Mexican artist Ricardo Luevanos, on view from July 25 through September 23, 2026.

Working across digital drawing, mixed media, painting, sculpture, and installation, Luevanos creates poetic visual narratives that explore longing, nostalgia, hope, and the enduring human desire to transcend perceived limitations. His work has been presented in solo museum exhibitions in Mexico and has also expanded into the country’s broader cultural landscape through projects including official artwork for international film festivals.

The exhibition explores the inner landscape of human emotion—longing, nostalgia, and the impulse to transcend perceived limitations.

In conjunction with the exhibition, limited-edition merchandise and DIESEL × RICARDO LUEVANOS collaboration T-shirts will also be available.

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STATEMENT

THE SKY PROMISED NOTHING

To touch the sky is to name fulfillment. A way of imagining the highest point of ourselves.　This exhibition emerges from that intention.

The central work is an installation at the center of the gallery. A broken ladder rises from the ground. Its first steps are missing. At its origin, the ascent is impossible.

To continue, other objects occupy the void: a chair, a suspended platform, a pedestal. They do not repair the ladder, but reinvent it. Each element abandons its original function to become something else: a step. This is not a stable structure, but a conviction.

Bird sculptures remain suspended in the possibility of flight. Only one falls—not as a symbol of failure, but as evidence. Because even in flight, there is a limit.

Surrounding the installation, portraits of figures appear with their faces hidden, absorbed in their own interior distance. Their identities are interrupted, as if suspended between who they are and who they are becoming. Alongside them, fragments of hopeful language emerge—quiet affirmations on canvas that insist on the possibility of continuation.

My work is rooted in nostalgia and impossibility. In the awareness of what cannot be recovered, and what may never be reached.

Birds appear as both contrast and mirror. They possess what the human body does not: the ability to fly, to touch the sky not as metaphor, but as fact. For them, the sky is a place. For us, it is a desire.

Together, these works trace an ascent defined not by arrival, but by longing.

The sky appears not as a destination, but as an impulse.

You’ll find out.

ーRicardo Luevanos

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BIOGRAPHY

RICARDO LUEVANOS

https://www.instagram.com/ricardoluevanos

Ricardo Luevanos is a Mexican artist based in Guadalajara. Working across digital drawing, mixed media, painting, and sculpture, his practice moves fluidly between figurative, conceptual, and traditional visual languages.

From illustration and collage to painting and 3D printing, Luevanos explores the emotional dimensions and visual analogies of human language and behavior. His distinctive practice combines technical precision with a fascination for naturalism, allowing him to express the emotional drama of existence through recurring motifs of birds, the human figure, and symbolic language.

Beauty and pain serve as the driving forces behind his work. Flocks gather and disperse, while luminous text and vivid color simultaneously suggest hope, rupture, and inevitable abandonment. Deeply rooted in youth and adolescent nostalgia, his works invite viewers to reflect upon memory, longing, and the most intimate corners of human experience.

His work has been featured at major art fairs in Mexico and internationally, including Salón ACME, Pinta Miami, and Zona MACO, as well as museums such as the MAC Museum of San Luis Potosí and The Bass Museum of Art in Miami.

He has also collaborated with leading international brands including Nike, Mercedes-Benz, Givenchy, and New Era, creating projects presented throughout Mexico, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

His work has been featured in publications including Wallpaper*, T Magazine, Hypebeast, and Architectural Digest.

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VIEW ARTWORKS

Photo: Decimo Aguilar (Image 5,9,12) / Christian Aguilera (Image 6.7,8,10,11)

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DIESEL × RICARDO LUEVANOS

To commemorate the exhibition “THE SKY PROMISED NOTHING”, a collaborative T-shirt by DIESEL and Ricardo Luevanos will be available for purchase.

Color : White / Black
Size : XS / S / M / L / XL / XXL
Release date: 2026.7.25(Sat)
Price: ¥15,400 (tax included)
Retailer: DIESEL SHIBUYA, DIESEL Official online store

* The image is for illustrative purposes only. The design and specifications may differ from the actual product in some cases.
*Release dates may change.