Intersections: 3 Generations

José Armando Arceo

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Graffiti has always been part of his artistic development and he uses it as a second sketchbook from which he brainstorms ideas to create new works. José uses graffiti as a beginning step to any project he undertakes. The sketchbook helps with color palette selection and balance of a piece.

José has taught a few beginners art classes, exhibited in different venues around the Midwest and abroad. Never missing a beat with any deadlines, putting 110% into the challenges any project put on his plate. Ready to take on any new project no matter what the medium.

BIO:

José is a self-taught artist from Chicago working in multiple disciplines. He attended the early artist program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at age nine. From age 14 to 21 he attended the Yollocalli Arts Program at the National Museum of Mexican Art. There José received a huge etiquette lesson about the broad world of the arts and its many medium possibilities. He also kept busy by working with different arts organizations like Gallery 37, Little Black Pearl Workshop, Chicago Public Art Group and a few neighborhood organizations.

José painted more than twelve murals in the Chicago area, including two CTA bus murals. He received several mural commissions including the North Riverside Park Mall; the UIC School of Theatre and Music; the Chicago Children’s Theatre; and the Legacy Foundation in Gary, Indiana among others.

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1Rise, 2021, Spray paint and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 24 x .75 inches12

Tools, 2021, Linoleum cut, 11 x 8.5 inches14

Atlan Arceo-Witzl

ARTIST STATEMENT:

In my artistic practice I try to make something every day. For as long as I can remember I have been compelled to draw and create visual things, to communicate with those around me. It is only within the past several years that I have come to recognize this ritual as a process. The need I have to create something when an image flashes in my mind or when I resonate with some external visual creates conditions that I have to deal with in the moment. My hand and mind are guided by time restraints, available materials, subject matter, visual and/or concept intricacy, usefulness, etc.

These factors enable a variety of productive creation rituals. I see these moments of habit mirrored in everyday tasks like sipping on coffee or combing your hair. In experiencing these moments as tasks, you will often find that a ritual requires a tool or ritual object. I often include objects that I think are

useful and have an intriguing form: comb, mug, radiator, telephone. My imagery is built upon the amalgamation of lines and forms that share a highly graphic aesthetic that sits somewhere between craft handiwork and industrial production of printed ephemera.

Each component of my images I see as an icon or symbol. I am intrigued by the visual language of Mesoamerican and indigenous cultures around the world as well as more modern institutions like the United States Postal Service and the way humans can compose a logical visual network. I hope to instill a sense of ancientness and modernity in my work, continuing to bridge time and place with the way we make use of objects and visual symbols in the ritual of communication.

BIO:

Atlan Arceo-Witzl is a Mexican-American visual artist and creator whose work is concerned with everyday rituals, icons, symbols, objects, and language. In his artistic practice, the cultural production of print ephemera, craft of the sign-painting industry, redefining "American" through a Latinx lens, and documenting/ recording of events across multiple mediums/ languages are current points of focus.

Atlan is a graduate of Skidmore College with a Bachelors of Science in Studio Art with a concentration in relief printmaking and sculpture. He lives in Chicagoland, IL pursuing a career in the arts and education while enjoying the fascinating human game of communication.

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Where is Justice? (Adam Toledo), 2021, Ink and acrylic, 19 x 16 inches23

Guts ‘n’ Glory, 2021, Ink and acrylic, 14.5 x 9.5 inches

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René Arceo

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Many of the influences and sources of inspiration for my work come from the Mexican School of Art with printmakers such are Alfredo Zalce, Sara Jimenez, Alberto Beltran, and Leopoldo Méndez. Simultaneously I draw inspiration from European artists like Kate Kollwitz, Francisco Goya, and Pablo Picasso among others.

Human, social, and sometimes political commentaries are the common themes addressed in my prints. During my youth I was exposed to activism and social justice providing solidarity through the arts to people’s struggles. After moving to Chicago and entering art school my works continued to reflect those artistic interests. I feel that as a member of a given society the artist should, in a nondogmatic fashion, artistically respond to social, economic or even political accounts and events taking place in our society. This wouldn’t be in place of, but rather in addition to, expressing other universal concerns and feelings and artistic explorations. Throughout history, artists have always reflected their own time and place either by offering critical views or by maintaining the status cool.

Prints have a special beauty and magic for me. On one hand, the pleasure and the enjoyment of the carving process, each individual line and texture, just like an artisan. On the other hand, the magic and often surprising results after pulling the first impression, first color or the overlapping of multiple colors. I enjoy working with and printing on paper as my main support for prints, watercolors, collages, and mixed media works. An additional and final element of great interest to me is the fact that multiplicity can contribute to reaching larger audiences while subsequently making the artwork more affordable and accessible to larger section of society.

In most cases my works evolve as a product of a spontaneous act. The act of drawing lines on a surface, which evolve into shapes and forms defined in the spontaneous process of creating them. That is, most often while creating art I do not depart from a specific idea or concept I want to address. Rather, it evolves out of the markings made spontaneously. In other cases, images are inspired by photographs that compel me to create a linocut or a woodcut.

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Murcielago-virus (Bat-virus) 2020

Woodcut and linoleum cut 30 x 22 inches

The idea for this print came from the earliest reports that pointed to the likelihood that COVID-19 jumped from bats to other animals and then to humans in China, where bats are considered a delicacy. Scientist have proven that bats carry naturally several viruses without been affected by them. The increasing exposure of humans to wild animals carrying deceases has been on the raise, particularly by two factors: the fast population growth and human encroachment into wild animals’ habitats. This country was already the source and originator of SARS in recent years, now we experience COVID-19.

On top of the composition, I used a stylized Aztec bat with broad opened wings. Hanging from the bat are Covid-19 virus symbols radiating negative energy below onto to a large central figure. The young female figure stands with uncertainty while all red radiating energy surrounds her and infecting her. It is a moment frozen in time where there is no decision made as to whether or not she will survive or perish.

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Sueño florido (flowery dream), 2020, Linoleum cut, 22 x 30 inches

During this time period (2020) of unprecedented experiences in our lifetime, like many other artists I have tried to reflect and respond through my graphic images. I created three prints in response to those experiences to create a snapshot of societal aspects that have worried me. One of these prints deals with the fact that so many Latinos, in particular Mexican like myself, have been disproportionally affected in Chicago by covid-19 and yet they are standing and surviving this onslaught. The print of “flowery dream” evokes the same idea of resilience and survival from an earthy and spiritual sense. A face nurtured by the earth grows and awakes from some bad dream and becomes conscious. There is a sense of strength and quietness within the face, which symbolizes humankind.

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