New Arte Nuevo: San Antonio 2008 a juried competition
New Arte Nuevo: San Antonio 2008 a juried competition
table of contents
This book has been published in conjunction with the juried exhibition New Art/Arte Nuevo: San Antonio 2008 at the UTSA Art Gallery of The University of Texas at San Antonio.
July 2 – August 10. 2008
Jurors . Benito Huerta. Kathy Vargas Director. UTSA Art Gallery and Satellite Space . Scott A. Sherer. PhD Designer . Rachel Schimelman Photography [Artwork] . by the artist Publisher . The University of Texas at San Antonio Text set in the Univers Family Printed in the United States by Lopez Printing, Inc. ©2008 UTSA Art Gallery, The University of Texas at San Antonio. All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without permission from the publisher. Copyright of all artworks depicted remains with the artists.
i
university president statement
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department chair statement
iii
gallery director statement
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jurors’ statement
johnaäsp caseyarguelles estevanarredondo matthewbarton jillbedgood sabrabooth robertabuckles ruthbuentello briannaburnett elizabeth walkercarrington lisettechavez markclarson celestede luna rebeccadietz angelafox christinagarza–mitchell ovidiogiberga larrygraeber robertgreen julieherrera sarahjones kenlittle geraldlopez veronicamarkland tessmartinez romamisra ramónmontoya susanmullally kelleyolmedo andrewortiz gissettpadilla katiepell joepeña marioperez pollyperez dennypickett jasonreed kitreisch brianrow wardsanders julie annshipp oscarsilva keith allynspencer mikestephens anabeltoribio paulvaladez johnwebb
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Artists are driven by a passion to create, and this is aptly demonstrated in the exhibition and publication, New Art/Arte Nuevo: San Antonio 2008. Here we have a description of composition, which includes a wide variety of texture, shape and surface. In addition, we are made aware of the process of creating an image molded by personal experiences, symbols, language, rhythm, metaphors and mysticism. Like an edited book of short stories, the artistic themes vary significantly. There is attention to dialogue, beauty, irreverence, symbolism, memory and mythology. The artists are inspired to communicate; thus, there are many different narratives. What we find in these works is that in art, the creative imagination crosses vast social and cultural boundaries. Art invites experimentation: Indeed many of these works employ the use of new techniques and technology. The descriptions are not meant to end the dialogue, for to the contrary, the dialogue is just beginning as there is still some mystery to the creation process and composition.
Ricardo Romo, President The University of Texas at San Antonio
university president statement
|i
This show represents one of many new innovations taking place within the ever–growing UTSA Department of Art and Art History. We are pleased to welcome new faculty and to serve increasing numbers of talented and dedicated students in our undergraduate and graduate programs both in the studio disciplines and in art history. This new competition/exhibition, New Art/Arte Nuevo, is another major project for the Department of Art and Art History and the Art Gallery. It represents our desire to reach out in a big way to locate and showcase new artistic talent in the region as well as create an awareness about our evolving and dynamic art program in the hopes of inspiring and drawing in future students. I had the good fortune to work with Dr. Scott Sherer to facilitate this project and to bring in two of our fine friends and colleagues, Kathy Vargas and Benito Huerta, to be the judges for the first installment of what we hope to be a major and successful biennial affair. As I write this I am looking forward to seeing the work as it is coming into the gallery and to eventually see it up on the walls.
Kent Rush Professor of Art and Chair Department of Art and Art History
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| department chair statement
The UTSA Art Gallery is proud to have organized New Art/Arte Nuevo: San Antonio 2008 to showcase the creativity of artists living, working, or with roots/raíces in South and West Texas. A great diversity of critical, cultural, and aesthetic concerns enliven the daily life and artistic endeavors across the region’s rural areas, small towns, suburban developments, and large cities. This exhibition is intended to meet the University’s mission to encourage creative activity and to serve multiple academic and public audiences. Professionally and personally, I would like to thank Benito Huerta and Kathy Vargas for the engagement, spirit, and care with which they tackled the difficult task of selecting works for the exhibition. Their individual creativity and their commitments as educators and cultural activists is exemplary of the potential for contemporary artists to encourage reflection, change, and reverie. New Art/Arte Nuevo: San Antonio 2008 is made possible with the generous support of grants from Ford’s Salute to Education; the Target Corporation; President Ricardo Romo and Dr. Harriett Romo; Dean Dan Gelo of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts; and Professor Kent Rush, Chair of the Department of Art and Art History. The hard work and good humor of Laura Crist, Rachel Schimelman, Helene Benitez, John Hooper, and Holly Northup have made tackling large tasks and small details seem effortless.
Scott A. Sherer, PhD Director, UTSA Art Gallery Assistant Professor of Art History
gallery director statement
| iii
The task of jurying an exhibition is always a daunting one and to add to the complexity of the process is the idea of co–jurying the competition. In this particular instance, the process of collaborating with a fellow juror was smooth and delightful. Narrowing the selection of artists gradually evolves from easy to extremely difficult as we are eliminating artists for consideration in each round. The last two rounds are the most problematic considering that all the artists and artworks in those rounds could actually be included in the final exhibition. The issue that arises toward the end of this process is to begin dealing with gallery space and whether we want to have a crammed, salon style exhibit or allow enough room for the work to be seen on its own. That reality imposes itself onto the consideration of which pieces are finally selected. We feel that the work chosen is [from the slides and jpegs sent] the best that represents the concept of the exhibit—New Art/Arte Nuevo. The work does not fit any category of thematic trends and instead is a slice of what is happening in contemporary art. The media ranges from sculpture to photography to computer–generated art to traditional drawing and so on. We hope that the exhibition generates excitement and dialogue and that the artists who were not chosen keep trying. Jurors have their own personal aesthetic that influences the selection process and it changes from one juror to another. We would like to thank Scott Sherer for inviting us to participate as jurors in this first installment of New Art/Arte Nuevo at UTSA. Thanks also to Laura Crist for her tireless work in keeping the mechanics of the exhibit moving easily.
Benito Huerta Kathy Vargas Director, The Gallery Chair of the Art Department The University of Texas at Arlington University of the Incarnate Word Arlington, Texas San Antonio, Texas iv
| jurors’ statement
John Aäsp
Casey Arguelles
Rockport, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
fall [from grace], single channel video, 2008 gravity in stereo, single channel video, 2008 fall [from chase], single channel video, 2008
My recent work employs a chronophotographic aesthetic to evoke dialogue about its association with picturing time. Rather than freezing separate frames as instances of motion—as seen in a Muybridge sequence—motion remains part of the sequence— looping continuously to create a paradox of stasis and dynamism. Using found footage from an older film era or clips from modern television, sequences are recaptured and reorganized to create a media–hybridized moment standing in a new temporal flow. Influenced by the philosophy of Henri Bergson, this work explores a gray area between cinema and photography, motion and stillness, linearity and repetition. A shift in spectatorship occurs beyond the conventions of cinema and photography that reveals a paradoxical picture of time. This work also makes the gesture of reviewing a prerecorded world—one that exists as a historical archive of imagery that can inform contemporary visual culture.
Drawing 3, charcoal on paper, 22x30”, 2008 Drawing 1, charcoal on paper, 22x30”, 2008
Organic and architectonic forms collide within the spaces of these works. References to deep atmospheric perspective are disrupted by flat, stenciled line. Through layers of both stenciled and expressive paint, as well as plaster relief, I have physically constructed a type of landscape. The classical architectural form of the column references western ideals of order and beauty, and can also be seen as shorthand for a male dominated culture. The chaotic expressive paint and the awkward, physical imposition of the relief are evidence of my struggle to break free of the confines of the historical definition of painting. It is important that these paintings illustrate a simultaneous fondness and disdain for painterly conventions of beauty.
Though images are appropriated from cinema and television, the final pieces are not meant to be received as either. In many cases the material traces of film, television and digital video co–exist. The viewer may negotiate frustrations of repetition and static hypnosis while being confronted with remediated imagery that is at times both proverbial and unusual.
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| johnaäsp
caseyarguelles
| 13
Matthew Barton
Estevan Arredondo
Corpus Christi, Texas
San Antonio, Texas Atmosphere Three, enamel and graphite on wood, 48x96”, 2006
With this current body of work I am incorporating painting and drawing. Creating atmospheres and layered pictorial rhythms that are composed through the dialogue between spontaneous mark making, and dynamic forms and lines. These techniques are used to convey ideas of balancing intuition and knowledge, the playful approach of pushing paint into sensual textures and leaving traces of motion made by my body. Pre–Columbian imagery has been an important influential substance in developing my ideas. This indigenous art contains basic elements of nature like my paintings, that are both simple and complex. Childhood exposure to popular imagery and music of Warner Brothers cartoons have also been participants in the concepts that motivate me to paint and draw.
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| estevanarredondo
Your Name in Vein, screenprint [artist’s proof], 11.5x7.5”, 2007
Typically the pieces that I make are strongly adhered to cartoonist convention [partially by choice] but mainly as an intuitive nostalgic gesture. My compositions are often visually busy and offer little contrast [which to me is very visually striking]. I attempt to rely on these energetic compositions to act as primarily optical works that attempt to embody a quality resembling the complexity of human emotions. Beyond the initial intuitive apparitions, the reality is that there is rarely any narrative rationalization for the drawings or prints that I end up with, and the most that I usually possess are minor reference points within the pieces that remind me of emotional circumstances, relations, etc.
matthewbarton
| 15
Jill Bedgood
Sabra Booth
Austin, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
Dolly5, mixed: glass, ink & collage drawings transfers to mylar, [8.5x8.5ea] 50x50” total, 2007
“A flock of sheep near the airport or a high voltage generator beside the orchard: these combinations open up my life like a wound, but they also heal it. That’s why my feelings always come in twos.” – Yehuda Amichai, poet, translated by Chana Block and Stephen Mitchell My art addresses the unresolved issues that continue to confront humankind. The ethical compass is not fixed but fluctuates due to society’s understanding or misinterpretation of world events. Perspectives are varied due to media presentation, politics, race, economics, religion, culture, location, personal situations, age, gender, and one’s life as it is lived through time and experience. Dichotomies persevere. Currently, my art comments on media’s use of language and the power of words, our continued colonialism and obsessive consumerist activities, persistent racial discrimination and economic disparities, the invasion and confrontation of discordant cultural images, society’s under–educated knowledge of science and regulations based on fiction, paternalistic protection of the veracity about war, and reality in opposition to romanticism — hopefully executed with a sense of humor. The balance between reason and emotion binds our shared human experience.
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| jillbedgood
Mariposa Machismo, mixed media: MDF Forms w/ silkscreened text, sand & copper powder, 20x10”, 2006
Mariposa Machismo is a project involving the butterfly phenomena that occured in South Texas in the summer and fall of 2006. The multitude of brown snout–nosed butterflies was generated by the unusual climate circumstances of extreme drought followed by torrential rains. Global warming was most likely a contributing factor. Curiously, 95% of them were male*. It’s ironic in a state that does not exactly support alternative lifestyles; millions of male butterflies were flitting and flirting everywhere. The term “Mariposa” is also street lingo for homosexual in Mexico.** The wall installation documents this unusual phenomena while examining the historical and current social implications of male butterfly bonding. The butterflies are rendered on MDF board and suede paper. The MDF butterflies are rubbed with copper powder, as well. They are silkscreened with text using sand for a textural effect. Mariposa Machismo offers an enlightened glimpse into the little before known underground culture of brown snout–nosed butterflies. *”Big–Nosed Butterflies Invade South Texas,” John Larson, NBC Nightly News – (Aug. 3, 2006). **Butterflies Will Burn: Prosecuting Sodomites in Early Modern Spain and Mexico by Federico Garza Carvajal.
sabrabooth
| 17
Roberta Buckles
Ruth Buentello
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
Emergence, oil on canvas, 72x48”, 2008
My series, Illuminations, are large oil paintings of small, overlooked and unexamined moments of light and form found in the surfaces of small, shiny materials. Photographic details are cropped for composition and blown up in scale. This new monumentality, coupled with the various types of light shed upon them, elevates their status and alters their visual impact. My work uses illusionistic realism to question the abstract nature of perception. These images suggest the phenomenological issues that arise from commingling the real with the seemingly abstract, providing a subcontext that relates to how we each process and perceive the world in which we live. Furthermore, illumination, in context with its definition “to shed light upon, to give it greater notice in order to gain better understanding,” adds to this discussion. Light cast upon a surface alters its appearance the same way personal ideas and beliefs “color” or alter perception and therefore meaning. These paintings of light on shiny surfaces act as a metaphor for this very human phenomenon.
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| robertabuckles
Na, Ma!, acrylic on canvas, 48x36”, 2007
For the past three years I’ve been working around the issue of identity. My work has always had something to do with an autobiographical situation. I am interested in making work that creates dialogue about the Latino experience. These three works were based around family photos and memories of my upbringing. Having recently been away from San Antonio, I was able to reflect and really capture the feel of the memories of my family in these paintings. I work in mid–sized to large acrylic paintings that can be described as narrative. I try to create something that can interest the viewer at different levels be it, subject, content or the formal aspects of my work.
ruthbuentello
| 19
Brianna Burnett
Elizabeth Walker Carrington
Lubbock, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
she even keeps fresh flowers on the table and if i were her then i could keep myself together, gelatin silver print, 35x38”, 2007
Currently my work revolves around the act of storytelling. I interpret stories, retell memories, and interpret narratives I have heard. This act of retelling becomes an oral reference of time and collection. I adore collections and find comfort in pattern and multiples. As humans, the stories we collect connect us all to being alive and experiencing life. I envision this body of work as being a collection of images which reference experiences, past, connections, and community. The tintype process gives the images a non–sense of time and place. Because of the historic process the images seem like a reference of past but find a space in the reality of contemporary time. I love this position of the images being timeless, floating in a bed of reality, story and reference. They should remind you of something, reference a story, or possibly recall a memory.
Blueswirl with Charm, acrylic and screenprint on canvas, 24x20”, 2007
This work is about marrying two of the things I love most—design and art. I have always felt that design art is often much cooler and more interesting. This series serves as superficial eye candy but at the same time is meticulous about color, shape and design. My work is a tribute to Andy Warhol’s statement Pop Art is about “liking things”. The pieces are a blend of design and type, lyrics and images from popular culture mixed, layered and silhouetted. They are designed on a computer and then silkscreened and touched up by hand. They want to be pretty, sexy, cool—vain with a bit of irreverence—but above all Pop.
I use the photogram because as a practice it references a presence of an artifact and it is constructed to make the image. The photogram is a process that allows me to recreate experiences, retell the stories through the action of setting up, remembering, and collecting. The photograms themselves are meant to be experienced as an image that is left behind, after the events have passed. These are stories like Persephone’s story of spring, and a reference to the little changes in landscape, a girl who carries teacups in her pockets, and my own dilemma of finding a space where I fit and I am in control. They are simply, stories retold.
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| briannaburnett
elizabeth walkercarrington
| 21
Lisette Chavez
Mark Clarson
Harlingen, Texas
Chicago, Illinois
On a String, mixed media on paper, 21.5x17”, 2007
I am a visual artist who enjoys working via mixed media on paper. Within my work, there are elements of simulated texture, color contrast, symbolism and manipulation of space. I explore the connections between life and death, innocence and evil. My doll–like figures are symbolic of the frailty of human life and suggest how we allow ourselves to be easily manipulated within society. Overlapping these figures creates a shallow space where the viewer is confronted by the subject matter at hand. My use of color contrast serves as a metaphor for light and darkness, happiness and pain. As I grew up in the 80’s, much of our culture was embedded with movies and television shows that depicted monsters as being the norm. Television shows, such as The Addams Family, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, and The Munsters were a part of my daily visual diet and formed the basics of my generation. As a young adult, my Mexican heritage reaffirmed my beliefs by the celebrations of Day of the Dead, where death is perceived as transitional, rather than an end.
Las Carpas, etching, 20x24”, 2008
I was born in Dallas, Texas in 1973 and spent most of my life living and working in Texas. Recently, I spent a sabbatical traveling through Southwest Texas doing research on my current body of work centered on the Las Carpas of South Texas. The Las Carpas were traditional Mexican tent shows that traveled throughout South Texas and Mexico entertaining in the early– to mid–eighteenth century. In my work I create a fictional cast of characters loosely based on historical texts from the period to depict moments and scenes from the Las Carpas. I am especially interested in nomadic mysticism as it relates to the spectacle of the circus and the ongoing effect of these performances to the American West. In addition, the geography and culture of West Texas is referenced throughout this body of work.
Over time my interest in ‘monsters’ hasn’t diminished. In realizing that adults are faced with good and evil and in choosing between the two, have the opportunity to become a blessing or a curse to the world around them: saints or monsters. The loss of morals and family values throughout our culture, especially within my generation, is most obvious when the immoral choice is made. In my work, I explore what should be the meaning of life—what should be the moral of the story.
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| lisettechavez
markclarson
| 23
Rebecca Dietz
Celeste DeLuna
San Antonio, Texas
Harlingen, Texas Se Busca Juan, acrylic on masonite, 2x4’, 2008
I envision my life as a visual artist whose multi–faceted explorations validate experiences that are unique to Latino/Chicano culture but are also universal in nature. I intend for my work to invite reflection and learning. It is community based artwork that focuses on family relationships, spirituality, and identity. My artwork expresses complex moods, situations, and feelings that cannot be described in words alone. I clarify issues that are important to me: family dynamics, interpreting oral histories, and my personal identity as a Latina/Tejana. Certainly I would consider my artwork as cultural and as a deliberate act, “an act against forgetting” my Tejana roots. Often you’ll see plants and animals native to the Rio Grande Valley in my work which reflect my internal/external connection to the land and environment. I question religion by Marian imagery, altars, and nicho–like frames in a secular context. I sometimes employ sewing techniques which refer to an ancestral feminine presence. My visual imagery is the way I think of people/situations in my mind, influenced by my uncensored emotions, frames of reference, and memories.
Pattern in Freefall #5, archival digital print, 20x20”, 2005 Pattern in Freefall #12, archival digital print, 20x20”, 2005
The roller coaster’s thrill is a flesh and blood experience; a fantasy world where the pleasure seekers are safely out of control. Remove the passengers and the tracks have a life of their own. The skeletal twists describe the heavy fluidity of a menacing beast. They breathe like ribs along a spine. The swift curve of the steel track describes the weightless grace and momentum of freefall. As they arc and shoot off the edge of the page, the eye is suspended only to fall back into the frame. In the shift from photo–realism to surreal, flesh dissolves into bone and bone into light. There is no before or after, only the rushing momentum of the present frame.
By including materials such as lace, fibers, domestic objects, creating nicho–like frames, and using sewing techniques are all elements that could be described as “domesticana” by artist and writer Amalia Mesa–Bains. The term “domesticana” refers to art that is based on a working class sensibility, is cultural, and is centered on the decoration of the “domestic sacred space”. These ideas are a strong influence on my assemblage work. As I continue my work, I learn more about myself and my relationship with the world.
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| celestede luna
rebeccadietz
| 25
Christina Garza–Mitchell
Angela Fox
Corinth, Texas
San Antonio, Texas A Surprise Encounter, mixed media, 18x24”, 2006
I was born and raised in South Texas, spending the majority of my years in San Antonio. In 2006, I moved to San Francisco to attend graduate school at the San Francisco Art Institute. Much of my artwork stems from this experience of uprooting and relocating to a radically new environment. I frequently address issues concerning isolation, instability, and establishing relationships/connections. Upon closer reflection, I realized that these themes related to my journey away from a strong support circle of family, mentors, and friends—people that nourished my growth as a professional artist. I have since returned to Texas, and have accomplished many goals based solely on my ability to draw strength from resources and deeply rooted connections in San Antonio. My most recent concept for a series titled, In preparation for the voyage, examines the capability of a specific location to provide fulfillment or sense of belonging. Reestablishing myself in San Antonio has provided additional insight into the challenges present during moments of transition.
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| angelafox
Lycopodium Liver, embroidery on ulano–type print, 8x8, 2008
“‘Nepantla’, Nahuatl word for the space in between: a dynamic place of transformation — between mind and heart, between what we are and what we become, among each other...” – Gloria Anzaldúa I work with symbols of duality in my paintings and prints as I aim to render a formal articulation of Anzaldúa’s term, Nepantla.
christinagarza–mitchell
| 27
Larry Graeber
Ovidio Giberga
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas Balanced Male Vessel with Mapped Surface, ceramic, dowels, transfers, 15x19x7”, 2007
Using the male form as a format, I create stylized and highly refined freestanding sculptural vessels. These works are rich with historical parallels, cultural symbolism, and personal content. Many of the gestures are inspired by specific historical works such as the Mayan god “Chakmool”, often depicted as a reclining figure in the form of an alter upon which human sacrifices were made from which this work was inspired. Images and patterns glazed on the surface of the forms are derived from my immediate environment, and serve as cultural signifiers. The imposition of the surface patterning upon the figure can be seen as decorative or disfiguring, beautiful or grotesque. I capitalize on the capacity of ceramics media to be multivalent, functioning both as art object and container. Protruding from the figure is a spout, which on one level acts as a burden and on another alludes to the notion of vessel, inviting the viewer to consider its purpose and contents.
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| ovidiogiberga
Memorandum, foam board, tape, paint, 48x70”, 2007
Some years ago I built a house where I used a reflective installation foam board as the sheathing behind the siding and was struck by its malleable reflective qualities. So last summer when I was looking to try something different from my painting for a show I was to have in Gallery 4 at the Blue Star in December ‘07, this material came to mind. Ever since, I’ve been investigating the material, burnishing it, painting, taping, punching holes, even sandwiching it in sculpture.
larrygraeber
| 29
Robert Green
Julie Herrera
Abilene, Texas
Tyler, Texas
Sound, mixed media on paper, 23x9”, 2007 Traverse, mixed media on paper, 18x22”, 2007
It occurred to me that some intriguing things could be done with the language of maps. The use of these symbols in art would be ironic because they are representational only in maps and are crafted out of the same elements as art: lines, shapes, and colors. When these semiotic markings are unhinged from their context, they retain an aura of familiarity while permitting a broader range of interpretations. If combined in non–representational or contradictory ways, further potentials emerge.
Determination, print, 22x30”, 2007
The need to move and create with my hands serves as the outlet to what cannot be verbalized. History plays an important role in my work. I like to relate the past to the present and compare the likeness and difference.
The theoretical basis of this approach is defamiliarization: presenting something as both recognizable and foreign and returning to viewers as an awareness of habitual objects. Defamiliarization in my work is engaged as follows: 1) using map symbols outside the reference of maps, 2) combining historically and culturally disparate symbols [synthesis], and 3) placing the symbols in formats that have their own system of meaning. The latter of these approaches is sometimes accomplished by referencing the vertical format and character of Chinese scroll paintings. The borrowed signs and emblems that appear in my work come from the history of maps. This visual data is not reconfigured into maps, nor is it realigned to refer to any physical place. By extracting signs from various maps and placing them within another context and system, that of art, their aboriginal abstractness is rekindled. They become defamiliarized; and thereby open to new interpretations and functions.
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| robertgreen
julieherrera
| 31
Sarah A. Jones
Ken Little
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
Untitled [hand mixers], hand mixers and quick change drill bits, 12x10x6”, 2007 Untitled [water series], archival digital print polyptych [series of 4 prints], 18x30 [each], 2007
Untitled [hand mixers] Here retro domestic kitchen equipment and items from the toolshed fuse, creating a hybrid that begs the question of gender roles. The choice of retro hand mixers [one had belonged to the artist’s husband’s grandmother] and the other a modern hand mixer that makes “nostalgic” references to the ‘50s, evokes the comparatively rigid gender roles identified with that era.
Red Buffalo, mixed media, 48x32x36”, 2007
This piece is a new part of a series of work that I have been doing for a long time. They are Big Game Animals, trophies made by recycling found materials into three dimensional collages that refer to this very serious “sport”. They are hilarious. They are gruesome. They are cute. They are trash. They are art.
Untitled [water – 4 part series] This series of photos was shot in one session at a fountain on a university campus in San Antonio, Texas. The photos were shot at close range point blank into the water using 35mm color film that was scanned into the computer. No edits were made to the digitized negatives beyond interpolating the files so the images could be printed on a larger scale. The size and proportion of the images as well as their being framed in black brushed metal gallery frames is meant to enhance a sense of looking through the picture frame into another world.
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| sarahjones
kenlittle
| 33
Gerald Lopez
Veronica Markland
Corpus Christi, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
Fountain of Youth, mixed media on paper, 22x39”, 2006
My environment plays an integral part in the development of my work. People, places and things from everyday life provide a rich source from which to draw on. Friends, popular culture, current events, social commentary and Hispanic culture highlight some of the topics I examine. The cast of characters I use in my work confront everyday issues with a twist from my imagination. My aim is to transform ordinary situations into extraordinary ones.
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| geraldlopez
Luna, polaroid, 8x8”, 2008 Starfish, polaroid, 8x8”, 2008
I have always been interested in capturing details, texture and extraordinarily fine points as subject matters in photographs. I like to look at something that is somewhat odd shaped or different from everyone else’s view and turn that object into a new meaning, new object, or a new way of looking at something so unpleasant that the object becomes somewhat portrayed in a way — beautiful.
veronicamarkland
| 35
Tess Martinez
Roma Misra
San Antonio, Texas
Southlake, Texas
Untitled, fiber based silver gelatin, 24x36”, 2004
My photographs use indefiniteness and obscurity to manipulate spatial depths resulting in the conception of infinite space and time. The use of reflections, doorways and windows reoccur invariably to again implement the ideas of this eternal space. To further push the enigmatic aspects of mystery and complexity, I use the concept of multiple frames. This requires intense engagement with each image prior to clicking the shutter, emphasizing the meditative means of my self exploration.
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| tessmartinez
‘acceleration/deceleration’, mixed media on canvas, 48x60”, 2008
Living in countries other than the one where I grew up necessitates formulating a new mode of interaction for each place—a coherence, understanding and insight not only into another culture but into myself. Experiences, impressions and information accumulate in an ever expanding psychological space. The task is to be able to navigate a strange terrain and find a way for myself. I choose the metaphor of the commute as a connector between worlds. In transit, my mind is free to roam and connect memories and present associations in an elastic psychological space. The sense of loss associated with the displacement of personal traditions and roots is countered by the empowerment generated by new experiences and the setting down of new roots. In this body of work, a constantly evolving map is made up of many layers, sometimes obliterating what is underneath to clear the space for new impressions. A grid seemingly measures the world in manageable chunks of space. The superimposition of a known structure over another known structure causes a gap/shift between two realities. The grids and images from lower layers appear between the grids of the upper layers, bits of images that become ambiguous in their fragmentation. Organic structure begins to resemble logical structure. There is an attempt at establishing order. Paint translates meaning, constructs form and maps the experience of finding my way. The end result is of order that is on the edge of chaos, an image that ‘hovers’.
romamisra
| 37
Ramón Montoya
Susan Mullally
San Antonio, Texas
Waco, Texas
Color by Deluxe, 35mm film, 65.5x9.625”, 2007 Coming Soon, 35mm film, 53.75x31.875”, 2005
Coming Soon is the first in a series of works about media and our culture. Before I began this series I had been immersed in several projects, all involving sewing, beadwork and embroidery. In planning I knew that this piece would involve fabric. Soon after beginning I realized that what I was creating was the fabric itself. in this piece the mass repetitive images are woven together to create the greater image. Each cell begins a discourse with the cell above or below it, with the cells around it. The images begin to blend in and create a new language of texture.
Mark Krim, Cook, digital image print, 24x36”, 2008 Gary King, Computer Technician Disabled, digital image print, 24x36”, 2008
I am working with members of The Church Under the Bridge in Waco, Texas, continuing an inquiry that began as www.myvirtualmuseum.com. My question is the same, ‘what have you kept and why do you value it?’ Many of the people I am photographing and interviewing have had significant disruptions in their lives, some have experienced periods of homelessness or incarceration, each has a new measure of stability and accomplishment. The work is a series of life size photographic portraits and separate brief quotes about their choices.
Color by Deluxe is much later in the same series of images trying to tackle the idea of media and its affect on our culture. A shift occurs away from simply the creation of woven imagery. There is a greater emphasis on patterning and color. I couldn’t help but think that if media affects our culture, it affects us as individuals, and thus I should also address that. Unlike in Coming Soon, here the cells begin to create a specific pattern using limited colors, the cells do not create a greater image, but rather an individual image.
I believe both of these were done by my dad’s mom. They’re hand painted. Over the last eight years these two plates are the only family memories I have. Only by the grace of God have I been able to hang onto them. The one I especially wanted to keep, to hang onto, was one that was especially painted for me. It was stolen when my storage unit was busted into.
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| ramónmontoya
I tell you one thing – all these people have to have their I.D. – their wallet. It’s your personal safe.
susanmullally
| 39
Andrew J. Ortiz
Kelley Olmedo
Arlington, Texas
San Antonio, Texas Cotton Candy Stand, Fiesta 2007, digital photographic print, 9.842x17”, 2007
I fail to explain what it is that I am always looking for when I’m out taking photographs. When it comes down to it I don’t really know what it is that I am searching for. I go on weekend excursions with my camera in tow...searching for a feeling of being alone, and a feeling of being one with nature. My images seem to represent a feeling of vastness...large empty spaces making an image seem larger than life. I try to show how beautiful the world is...if anyone would just stop to look.
Hallucination, archival giclée print, 20x29”, 2008 Rising, archival giclée print, 25x37”, 2008
The series Blackbird Speaking was inspired by an experience I had many years ago while in graduate school. Walking on my way to class, I noticed numerous crows sitting on telephone wires overhead “cawing” at me as I passed below. They complained loudly at me so I, being strongly influenced by magical realism and the belief that, of course, they were speaking to me, answered back. The birds seemed to complain louder. I stopped and spoke with them more and they in turn answered me. It did not matter that we may not have understood one another, the simple fact of the “conversation” taking place stayed with me for years. Recently, that memory surfaced again and resulted in this series of allegorical portraits of birds. The birds and the settings are not real—they are digital collages or composites that I have fabricated from elements of numerous images to express my feelings. The work is really about the idea of communication. Juxtaposing various crows and ravens against symbols like locks, fences and steel walls, I attempt to illustrate the frustration of trying but not being able to communicate.
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| kelleyolmedo
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Gissett S. Padilla
Katie Pell
Houston, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
Uncovering Eastern Truths, mixed media on board, 32x40”, 2008 Attack of the mini–goblin, positive lithography, 7x12.5”, 2007
My work consists of an exploding bomb of history and cultures in an organized chaotic space. Creating my own world by using popular culture as a major source of inspiration and at the same time applying my own Latin culture to develop a world that is both organized and chaotic. I search for a way for the image to be interpreted into a different meaning from its original. I use fragments of images and re–arrange them into an entirely different and abstract form. The overall work relies on the different ways of colliding photos and gestural doodles together. And the overall inspiration comes from the world around me; popular culture. Collage, drawing, painting, and various forms of printmaking are the media I use in my work. The images come from a neutral place, the World Wide Internet. My interest lies in historical references, nature or earth based objects, and the mixing of opposing images. I am also informed by cultures that are different from my own. I have a persistent interest in the idea of layering. Whether literal or metaphorical, layering is a common thread in my body of work. I find the flatness of painting complements the objective of my work. In layering found images from various cultures I create my own culture, one that is derivative of all others. My work also involves a quirky attitude. My use of humor may or may not be obvious, and it’s never overly serious. I use some kitsch imagery, incorporated with more serious and historical imagery, to create and illustrate a world that is uniquely mine. I also like to incorporate personal imagery, from family photos, and hide them in the context. They are not to be read as photos themselves; they inform new meaning when combined with opposing images. I work by mixing different elements together such as the detailed, tight, and intricate space with the light–handed and gestural use of dripping paint.
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| gisettepadilla
All the Animals of the Forest, pastel on paper, 48x56”, 2007
I make work to tell my side of the story. I can face the truths in the studio I am scared to face anywhere else, draw unpleasant things without blinking, and mawkish ideas unabashedly. I don’t need to put on a brave face or come to a conclusion. I do not work through ideas or sort things out in the studio; I simply add more stories to stories, about rites of passage and entitlement, wishful thinking and utopian failure. I don’t experience a progression of ideas, just an expansion. After all, art is not self improvement. I started as a painter, and that is where my love of craft and beauty take hold. I draw with a trancelike joy and an endless patience for detail. I am most at home painting, and it is one of the few times I can stand myself. But sometimes it’s best to cut the craft. I photograph to shortcut the image making, assemble things to alchemize the artwork, and perform to share my idealistic desire and try to justify my discontent. I make comic books so I can tell you what to think, instead of having to lead by example. Now I am painting vignettes of love, adoration paintings made exclusively to adore you, the viewer. In addition I may photograph you in a grotto of drawings constructed in a similar manner. I am channeling a hippie who missed the scene; an Idealist who can’t help but know that you’re not buying it. It makes me all the more shrill, with more nervous chatter. Now give me a hug.
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Joe Peña
Mario Perez
Corpus Christi, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
Lengua, monotype, 7.75x6.25”, 2008
This recent body of work began as an appreciation for the studies of meat as executed by such artists as Chaim Soutine, Claude Monet, and Pieter Aertsen, and with that a desire to understand the delicate intricacies of such raw material and the need to portray it in a variety of media. My choice of subject matter is one of my cultural upbringing and the traditions associated with it.
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| joepeña
Epic, oil on linen, 7x9”, 2006 Triumph, oil on linen, 7x9”, 2006
A poem can be written from any place in the world as can a painting be painted. Pain and suffering can be conveyed in art but truth is really the big question. Painting is a lie? Of course it is! Alchemy of materials is the only true force in painting, truer than skin color, places or labels that all fade and can be means of deception. Life is constantly changing, we are never the same from one moment to the next. Creativity and production are the most important aspects of being an artist. Always and forever, home is where the heart is.
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Polly Perez
Denny Pickett
Dallas, Texas
Granger, Texas
I wanna be adored, mixed media: paper, plastic, fabric remnants, thread, tape, 20x20”, 2007 Thought the fire was only the spark, mixed media: paper, plastic, fabric remnants, thread, tape, 20x20”, 2007
Print media and packaging from various cultures and eras, political propaganda, historical and scientific drawings, pop art, industrial design, and recycling are my influences. Examining consumption of the visual as a unique commodity is my curiosity, and my methods are similar to those of the scientific process with results depending on chains of small experiments with found materials at hand. Shared culture is smaller and bigger simultaneously. Since the technology to create has evolved consumerism has grown. This combination makes for an efficient global engine for ‘disposability’ as tangible and informational refuse exists faster than ever. The short life cycle of goods in the consumer marketplace begs for intervention to prevent a cluttered demise—after being sold, bought, and used, for refuse to be returned to the cycle as something different instead of ending as mere trash. To be responsible for what is consumed, owned, discarded, and created is the main objective of this work as everything is made from reclaimed material, and designed to be layered and compact.
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| pollyperez
River of Dreams, oil on canvas, 54x84”, 2007
When I was a young boy, my Dad and I would make an annual fishing trek to the Rio Grande River, near Eagle Pass, Texas. We didn’t work very hard at fishing, for the most part, we just sat in a couple of chairs on the bluff under a shade tree during the day or right out on the river bank during that beautiful evening or morning sky. It was here that he told me his story. It was painful for him to recollect, but for him it was a rite of passage for his son. He told me of his war experiences. A B-25 bombardier, shot down over the Mediterranean Sea, captured after being badly wounded, he was held captive in a concentration camp for three years. As I listened I could only imagine the brutality and suffering that he had experienced. His freedom to exist in time and space had disappeared. As I watched him gently puffing on his pipe, steadfastly gazing across the river, I realized that he was recharging his soul, and taking back his lost sense of time and space. That prolonged gaze brought him inner peace and this indeed became my vision, my inner soul. For me, the river became a metaphor for contemplating life. The river continually flowed, day ran into night, and was always in a grand flux of dynamic change, and quiet transition.
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Kit Reisch
Jason Reed
San Marcos, Texas
Albuquerque, New Mexico Holik Farmhouse, Wall, Texas, archival pigment print, 12x18”, 2007 Pink Door – Chavez Family, Big Lake, Texas, archival pigment print, 12x18”, 2007
This body of work represents my experience and interpretation of the spaces and places of West Texas. My interest in this region is wide–ranging and is influenced by the fact that I grew up there and still consider it to be my home. But more than that, I have an absolute curiosity about the people and landscapes, the myth and reality, and the past and present of this complex place. These photographs are part of La Última Frontera, which is a series of photographs that explores and documents the significant layers of nature and culture, myth and reality, and past and present existing as they do in the everyday, and often personal, vernacular landscapes of West Texas. The photographs were taken in a region consisting of approximately 15 counties from the La Junta area of the Rio Grande to the cotton fields just east of San Angelo.
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| jasonreed
Chalkboard 10: Reliance, still–frame animated video with chalk drawings, 2008
I have always had a fondness for the experience—the act—of painting. For me, it is a warm, contiguous rhythm with no immediate sense of time, place, or sequence can penetrate. I liken the act of painting to the act of performing: whereas an actor is entirely immersed in the world that exists onstage, I sense that I am immersed in the place where the idea lives. Despite [or because of] this particular experience, it is perhaps as close to an idea as I can get. The brush seems a logical extension of the arm, merely a bridge between the idea and the physical surface where it chooses to manifest itself. I enjoy painting quickly. My work in animation is a still–frame approach, applied to objects and environments transformed through the magic of chalkboard paint. As each object becomes a chalk–friendly version of itself, the environment in the camera’s viewfinder becomes familiar yet distant, and the drawings move and live among it, frame by frame. This time–intensive process is different from that of painting in that it results in both a palpable attachment to my workspace, and a greater sense of my own physical scale in relation to the idea.
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Ward Sanders
Brian Row
Lytle, Texas
San Marcos, Texas Don’t Dump Your Shit on Me, hydrocal, claybond, pasta, 4.25x9x9”, 2007 Seeing Our Own Mortality for the First Time, hydrocal, claybond, 1’7.5”x9.5x9.5”, 2007
For as long as I can remember I have been interested in how different individuals, groups and cultures have taken the intangibles of their lives and translated them into a tangible form. Emotional, spiritual and intellectual dialogues with life manifest themselves in many ways. My works are symbolic representations of humankind. The essence of their meaning is not defined by time, but by an action. My interests are in various facets of the human condition. Detachment is evident in the execution and formality of the work, but this detachment is a paradox relative to the highly charged content of the work.
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| brianrow
Other Sounds from a Minor Nation, construction, 31x24x12”, 2007 St. Martin Contemplates Points of Infinity, construction, 27x21x10”, 2008
Preoccupation with the found object is preoccupation with the found life. That actions and ideas could be dictated by chance encounter with rusty artifacts of some past existence is always a revelation to me. There is nothing as life affirming as finding and using the leftovers of other times and situations; hence, the fascination with dead croquet balls, old glass, empty microslide trays, or meaningless numbers. These constructions are attempts to give reverence and resonance to those notions while crossing them with such found sources as overhead remarks, church marquees, internet prattle, or any other cultural graffiti. This is not to discount imagined conversations with plants, animals, inanimate objects or the life work of persons dead and living. The virtual possibilities of every/any moment define a life of found purpose and meaning: absurdity at its most profound, religion in motion.
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Julie Ann Shipp
Oscar Silva
San Antonio, Texas
Staples, Texas
Untitled, 48x48�, 2008
Virgin Forest, fiber/mixed, 40x15x8�, 2007
My paintings are atmospheres of color that are formed from many thin applications of paint. Similar to 19th century Luminist paintings that are influenced by the sublime forces of nature, my paintings strive to become transcendental statements. However, unlike the 19th century painters, I exclude the actual trappings of identifiable landscape. Rather than depicting a scenic land or sky formation, I try to think of the small fleeting glimpses of beauty just as they are about to fizzle away to become memory to those who witness the moment. The omission of representational elements and prioritization of color connects conceptually with Field Painters of the 20th century, but with a marked disctinction that I employ illusionistic depth, inviting the viewer to enter the painting.
Watching the seasons colored by the environment led me to perceive the patterns of life lying in wait to unfold. I try to explore the complexities that I see as well as the magic of nature and its inspiration, whether it is symbolic of birds in flight, the untouched woodlands, or even the influence of the sacred event of passing from one stage of life to another. Using natural fibers I try to incorporate the sensation of awareness and in doing so I hope to reflect that which is around me.
Offering no narrative or system of symbols, I try to envelop the viewer in pure color in which one can find subtle atmospheric changes and lighting effects internalized within the painting. Variations of color gradually fading into one another conceal any abrupt edges or color shifts, as would a natural gem. It is necessary to spend a lot of time looking into the paintings; they tend to have a meditative quality about them, a spiritual dialog with the viewer.
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Keith Allyn Spencer
Mike Stephens
El Paso, Texas
Corpus Christi, Texas
Untitled [2 in A Room], mixed media on canvas, 56x72”, 2007
The featured paintings are objectifications of my own personal awareness, consisting of my surroundings, interests, and experiences. They are creative experimentations, and accidental happenings, manifesting themselves upon the instant of painting. The exaggeration of such landscapes will create an enlightening awareness for the viewer of actual settings similar to that of the painting, eventually stirring a dialogue around these new found scenes.
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| keithallynspencer
Camero, woodcut, 24x17”, 2002 Bear Market, woodcut, 24x20”, 2003
Through my work I investigate my own self–identity and what my place is within the world. Using an alter–ego figure based upon a graphic comic book style that developed from childhood, I explore the chaotic scenarios that often occur in current society. My art makes a social commentary by utilizing traditional techniques combined with current cultural images.
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Anabel Toribio
Paul Valadez
San Antonio, Texas
Edinburg, Texas
Real Beige #9, oil on canvas, 64x24” Triptych, 2007
While private spaces inherently recount personal circumstances, my paintings of medicine cabinets expose the tenuous relationship between private and public life. This occurs when guests peer behind the closed–mirrored door. The daily routine of ingesting products for physical and mental self–improvement narrates the pre–occupancies my subjects have with themselves. The objects inside each cabinet are essentially remedies and provide what the body fails to deliver or what the social subject desires. The cabinet becomes a psychological space where objects are representative of the characteristic, idiosyncratic behaviors of my subjects and the ways they live. My figures begin to play out conditions of health and their own insecurities.
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| anabeltoribio
Cholo, acrylic on paper on board, 20x12”, 2006
This work explores the idea of labels and how someone is viewed with a label. So I took a list of “Castas” from a book and started labeling portraits of individuals. I often create paintings using acrylics on papier maché and recycled board or wood that I then work to appear old and distressed giving the viewer a sense of nostalgia and history. Much of my work is based upon the Spanish language. I would go to the Spanish language movie matinee’s with my abuelita and was awestruck by the beautiful movie posters, the typography, colors and glamorous photos. I couldn’t understand the language because Spanish was not spoken in our home, but I loved the way they looked. It’s finding the beauty in common objects that is really fascinating for me. My content is somewhat subtle, it’s not as important to me to have something to say as it is for my viewing audience to find something interesting.
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John Webb San Antonio, Texas Imitation of Life, plywood and mesquite, 30x24x54�, 2007
I trace my desire to conceive inventive spaces to my background as a practicing and educating architect. Each of my sculptures is a result of this motivation in its purist form. Every piece begins with a generating idea that relates to reconsidering the normally utilitarian application of plywood and employing it as a sculptural material. I shape it into forms which combine to define spaces in and around them and establish a dialog between the two. The proximity and gesture of the forms and the perimeter treatment at the edge of the work create a composition that exhibits an attitude about the way it occupies a larger space in which it’s viewed. Most often my forms have an organic quality which can be referenced to organisms and natural structures. Elements of nature, which may be quite small, are magnified and this dramatic change in scale presents associative shapes. In my sculpture, a viewer can imagine being one inch tall and encountering a new and dynamic environment.
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| johnwebb
UTSA Art Gallery Department of Art and Art History One UTSA Circle San Antonio, Texas 78249