“I paint in order to give fresh color to life, which sometimes can have far too many gray moments,” said Pineda during the opening of the exhibit.

“I think that is why I sometimes tend to overuse color in my works.”

The exhibit, curated by Mexican art promoter Samuel Reyes and sponsored by Ojo de Tigre mezcal, constitutes the 38-year-old Pineda’s first solo show, not only in his adapted home of Mexico, but ever, and includes a range of brightly hued pop-art style paintings with a distinctive childlike innocence and a retrospective naiveté.

Dividing into three creative segments, the works chronicle not only Pineda’s personal search for visual expression, but also his journey through various media, a graphic transition from exploration to confirmation.

But there is a unifying theme of simplicity and guileless candor that prevails in all Pineda’s paintings.

Almost cartoony in nature, these unaffected paintings come off at first as ingenuous.

But on closer examination, there is much pain and passion in their expression.

It is Pineda’s later works that are most expressive, capturing an array of feelings and ideas through a contrast of colors, shapes, lines and formats on acrylic canvases.

“Through my work, I am trying to project my own emotions and reflect the dreams that lie deep within me and that have often been curbed by the implacable gaze of a society that at the same time enjoys — but also frequently judges — individual freedoms,” he said.