Jose Vargas

NEVER REFUSE A MUSE How Jose Vargas inspired hundreds of artists 

Jose Vargas walks into my office about once a year to that’s OK, but it’s not a Valentine’s Day show. I want the real human hand deliver flyers for art shows he organizes for the heart, not candy and flowers that get thrown away and forgotten. I City of Dallas, sometimes bearing small gifts and always want a big, bloody heart that’s in your face. The idea for the show looking like a wizard or a lama with his long hair, beard came from lotería, the Mexican game that’s like bingo. Card No. and calm demeanor. 27, el corazón, is a big, bloody heart with an arrow in it, and it’s

He always has some astounding story about his life to share. floating in the air. It’s very surreal. When I saw that, I said, “Now,

Vargas, 71, started “El Corazón” art show annually in 1993, this is art.” This is art I can relate to. Everybody’s had a wounded giving hundreds of local artists the chance to showcase their work heart sooner or later. Give me a broken heart, a heart that’s been over the past 25 years. The city’s cultural centers have been closed set on fire or stomped on, because that’s really emotional. I don’t since the start of the pandemic, and this year’s “El Corazón” show mind flowers and things that are considered pleasant as long as is planned as the first in-person event at the Bath House Cultural it’s not too sweet. Center this year. The show will feature about 50 artists whose work has appeared in past shows, sort of like a greatest hits. Breaking hearts

The artist also organizes the annual Virgin of Guadalupe exhibit We have about 50 artists every year, which means I have to reat the Oak Cliff Cultural Center, among other group shows. ject hundreds of entries. People get really upset with me, and On 25 years of “El Corazón” years. Enrique Cervantes has been in charge of the gallery at I’m not sure we can call it “annual” anymore because I told them I the Bath House for 18 years or so. When the work comes in, and don’t want to do it every year anymore. I want to do it every other you’re dealing with 50 or 60 artists, and people start asking a year. I have a lot of interests that I want to pursue. I’ve been [saying] lot of questions, you get a little frazzled. I have a strange sense that I’m going to die soon, and I just don’t know when. I made a of humor. I say, “Enrique is the nice one.” I’m the other one. list of things I want to accomplish, and one of them is that I want who also ran the gallery. One day she called me, and she said, “Jose, heart in them, and I don’t want them to be sweet. People associate they stop talking to me, and this can go on for eight, 10, 12 to explore other themes. Live music When I was working at Tolbert’s Texas Chili Parlor, one of the Hundreds of artists managers was from Austin, and he said, “Why don’t I bring these Usually we have about 50 people in the show musicians up from Austin, and we won’t have every year, so I deal with hundreds of artists. to pay them, we can just give them the door.” I came across this individual, Kelly B. Morris, So he brought these guys up, and I ran the who had a piece in “Corazón,” and I was really door. We charged $2.50 per person, and the moved by it. He lives in a small town about an first show was Jimmie Vaughan and the Fabhour and a half from here, and he’s a teacher. I looked at his work, and I was just blown away. “Give me a broken heart, ulous Thunderbirds, before they were famous. We had Stevie Ray Vaughan. The first time I I said, “I’m going to do my best to get you an a heart that’s been set on saw him, I just stood there, like, “This kid is exhibition.” This guy is really passionate about his art, and he’s really working from his heart. fire or stomped on, because really good.” I said, “What if I started focusing on one or that’s really emotional.” Why he went to college two individuals, and that will be the ‘Corazón’ I ran into a nephew of mine, because we have show?” I wanted to do something different, a big family and I have a lot of nieces and and there it is. nephews around, and he told me he was in “El Corazón” started because of a cancellation said, “Yeah, it’s full of good-looking women. I used to go see a lot of bands at Club Dada, and I’ve never met so many women in my life.” it was an art gallery back then. I became friends with the bartender, So, I said, “Hmm.” I’m really in a bind. I had someone cancel, and I need something in Life as a muse two weeks. Can you help me?” I said, “Sure,” so I started measuring Something bad happened to me, and I quit painting for 30 years. the walls to see how many pieces we needed. Lucky for me, I had I used to paint with oils, and I had a wooden box with art supplies. just organized the first Our Lady of Guadalupe show, in 1992, so I don’t want to go into it, but some of my best artwork was stolen I contacted a lot of the same artists that were in that show. One from me. So I put everything in the closet and closed the door, and of the artists I invited happened to be Terry Aguilar, who was the I knew it wasn’t going to be opened anymore. I felt traumatized. It director of the Bath House Cultural Center at the time. She said, was sort of a fight-or-flight mode of protecting yourself. The way “Would you consider doing that show at the Bath House Cultural I decided to protect myself was to stop painting. I started getting Center?” I went to look at it, and of course, I liked it. I said, “Let’s heavily into photography, but in the back of my mind, I kept thinking do it,” and it became the most popular show the Office of Cultural about it, and that’s one reason I started organizing shows, because Affairs does. Well, actually, the most popular show now is “Día de I want them to keep painting. Sometimes I ask people to be in a los Muertos,” but it’s not a competition, even though it kind of is. show, and they say they don’t know what to paint. I’ll go to their What “El Corazón” means to him this painting over here. You could do this and this with it,” and I It’s the heart, and it’s the human heart. All the pieces have to have a can see their wheels start turning. college. I said, “Really? You, in college?” He studio or home and start looking around, and I’ll say, “What about it with Valentine’s Day because it happens to be in February, and This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.