‘Refined Reflections’

University of Texas at San Antonio’s Zoe Diaz Collection exhibition reflects a gift to the community

BY MARCO AQUINO

The latest exhibition at UTSA Southwest’s Russell Hill Rogers Galleries represents a collection that spans more than 2,000 works and features some of the most significant Latinx artists working in the U.S. today.

And they’re all in the hands of a 16-yearold.

Titled “Refined Reflections into the Formidable: Contemporary Latino Art from the Zoe Diaz Collection,” the exhibition gathers work from 23 artists that are part of a collection South Texas businessman Joe Diaz gifted to his 16-year-old daughter Zoe Diaz.

“It’s her collection and she will continue to build on it after I’m gone,” Joe Diaz told the Current. “I’m trying to teach her that this job requires great responsibility. We are seeing what she can do and how she’s going to handle it and how much she’s learning.”

The elder Diaz began acquiring the works some 30 years ago, and the works now on display at UTSA’s Southwest Campus range from large-scale paintings and sculpture to photographs and drawings. The show is curated by Scott Sherer, a professor of art history at the university.

He added that the works in the collection hold more than just monetary value.

“It’s not just an art collection,” Diaz said. “I mean, it’s really a collection of our heritage.”

The businessman’s interest in art began when he was living in Houston during a time when few galleries and institutions were showcasing Latinx art. He recalls seeing a work by artist Benito Huerta, the longest-serving director of The Gallery at UTA at the University of Texas at Arlington, and immediately falling in love with it.

Diaz also credits the book Hispanic Art in the United States by John Beardsley for further piquing his interest. That’s where Diaz first encountered the work of San Antonio-based artist César Martínez. Martínez’s large-scale works, inspired by the color field painting of the 1950s, would one day become part of Diaz’s own collection.

Recuerdo

To date, Diaz has also acquired works by Luis Jimenez, Gloria Osuna Perez, John Valadez, Chuck Ramirez and Kathy Vargas, all of whom are represented in the UTSA exhibition. But it’s the work and career of San Antonio-born artist Vincent Valdez that Diaz said has surpassed all his expectations.

“Luis Jimenez is probably the most famous Mexican American artist of all time,” Diaz said. “But it’s amazing to see where Vincent Valdez is right now. And he’s coming up on that type of level.”

In 2016, the New York Times described Valdez’s paintings as “striking for their attention to emotion, storytelling and the revealing detail.”

Among Valdez’s works included in “Refined Reflections” is a luminous oil painting titled Recuerdo created in 1999, when the artist was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design.

In it, Valdez depicts an elderly, contemplative man, cigarette between his lips, as he somberly plays an accordion. Open beer cans, a lit candle and key chain with a chicken foot attached to it are scattered in the foreground. Depicted in the background is a clue to what drives the figure’s sorrow: a single white cross delineates a pet’s gravesite.

While Recuerdo works as a stirring tribute to someone reminiscent of the artist’s grandfather and a then-recently departed pet, the piece also is important because it signaled a shift in Valdez’s art-making process. Stuck nearly 2,000 miles away from South Texas, Valdez developed an affinity for his home community and began to recognize his identity as a Latino artist.

“It was Thanksgiving vacation, and I couldn’t afford to fly home to see my family,” Valdez explained to the Current in a text message. “So, I sat in my studio at RISD, stared at a blank piece of wood, and began painting what I was experiencing at the moment. Recuerdo reflects an imagined character based on my grandfather, who sits in his backyard after a hard day’s work cutting yards and reflecting back on his own life. This painting depicts an important moment for me — it was the moment that I fully realized what my voice and my vision was about to become as a painter.”

Curator Sherer said the work also wrings considerable empathy from the viewer.

“You kind of get lost in the details and elements of the work, whether it’s the color or image being reflected,” he said. “It’s just well-crafted work.”

“Refined Reflections” is only the third exhibition to be presented since fall 2022, which marked the merger of UTSA’s art program with the academic offerings of the Southwest School of Art. The university expanded its footprint along the San Antonio Riverwalk with its Southwest Campus occupying a portion the Southwest School’s historic downtown enclave.

Latino art is American art

The work in the new exhibition has been well received by the community, according to Sherer. The diversity of each artist and their unique vision makes the collection interesting, he added.

“I feel the exhibit is kind of a gift to the community,” Sherer said. “There is a legacy from Luis Jimenez to more contemporary artists, and it really shows the power of Latino art from the past to the present — and moving forward with some of the younger artists. Latino art is central to the American art experience, and I think the exhibit really shows that.”

Diaz recalls the days when galleries would only call him ahead of Latino Heritage Month in September to seek out work. A lot has changed in the past 30 years, he said.

Today, Diaz reveals that he gets constant requests from galleries and museums around the country interested in showing works from his daughter’s collection. That interest grows as people become more familiar with the artists.

“We are part of the culture,” Diaz said. “We are American. We are here.”