Visual Arts

The Art of Politics (2010)

The Art of Politics (2010)

THE ART OF POLITICS: THREE GENERATIONS OF POLITICAL PRINTMAKING IN THE BAY AREA
Work by Juan Fuentes, Melanie Cervantes, Jesus Barraza, Leslie Lopez, and Natalia Garcia Pasmanick
June 2–August 7, 2010

This multi-generational exhibition features work by veteran printmaker Juan Fuentes, established printmakers Melanie Cervantes and Jesus Barraza (who form the artist collective Dignidad Rebelde), and up-and-coming printmakers Leslie Lopez and Natalia Garcia Pasmanick. This group demonstrates that printmaking continues to be a viable artistic practice to broadcast poignant and inspirational ideas, beliefs, and opinions.

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The exhibition for our 2023 Latinx Art Now Auction

The exhibition for our 2023 Latinx Art Now Auction opens on South First Friday (April 7) and the auction is May 20!! We had so much fun last year, and this year we're planning to make it even better. Back by popular demand, @yosirey returns as our celebrity auctioneer. Tenemos arte de @pilar.aguero.esparza , @aarondelacruz, @jermar1, @samrodriguezart , @livingrelic and many more.⁠
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We're gonna be there and you should be there too 👀! Get your tickets through the link in our bio . ⁠
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⁠Come check out Kristina's works at "Pertenecer:

⁠Come check out Kristina's works at "Pertenecer: To Belong" before it closes this Sunday, March 19th, 2023!⁠
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My identity as a biracial woman of color has both enriched and muddled my self-identity. As a result, during my formative years, I felt like I had to change who I was to blend into the dominant ethnicity of my surroundings.⁠
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I grew up around two distinct cultures in my immediate family. My dad’s grandparents immigrated from Mexico in the 1920s, and my mom immigrated from the Philippines when she was twelve. While I⁠
was a part of both communities, I often felt torn between them while never fully feeling a part of either, and being told that I was not “Mexican enough” or “Asian enough” at a young age elevated the tension. These experiences made me feel that my racial identity was invalidated or as if I was an outsider.⁠
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Today, I no longer allow others to dictate how I view⁠
myself, and I have embraced and appreciate my identity.⁠ As I have gotten older, I have realized that I do not have⁠ to change who I am, to belong and that I am enough.⁠Similarly, with my own art practice, I choose to create⁠ things that I want to make versus trying to fit anyone⁠ else’s ideal of what an artist should be.⁠
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For this show, I chose to make work inspired by hojalatas art. Each individual piece is an object that I love to draw and often feature in my own work. Using this medium allowed me to embrace my roots while not changing who I am as a person and a creative.⁠
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⁠Column 1 Column 2 ⁠
Frog Ice Cream⁠
Gorilla Cheeta⁠
Skull Palm Tree⁠
Cool Dog Alien Daddy⁠
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Column 3 Column 4⁠
Mola Mola Bulldog⁠
Grumpy Cat Yin Yang⁠
Banana Raccoon⁠
Unibrow Cat Yorkshire Terrier⁠
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Column 5⁠
Hotdog⁠
Snake⁠
Tiger⁠
Hammerhead⁠
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#macla #gallery #sj #sanjoseart #bayarea #art #supportcultura #community #artist⁠

Come check out Kristina's works at "Pertenecer: To

Come check out Kristina's works at "Pertenecer: To Belong" before it closes this Sunday, March 19th, 2023!⁠
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Kristina Micotti is a biracial illustrator, artist, and author based in San Jose, California. Her illustrations are playful, bold, and simple. She likes to create anything that makes her laugh. Her work often⁠
features the personification of ordinary objects and animals of all shapes and sizes. In addition to her illustration work, she runs a small business with a line of illustrated products ranging from stickers to blankets.⁠
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#macla #gallery #sj #sanjoseart #bayarea #art #supportcultura #community #artist⁠

⁠Come check out Rayos' works at "Pertenecer: To

⁠Come check out Rayos' works at "Pertenecer: To Belong" before it closes this Sunday, March 19th, 2023!⁠
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As a Latinx artist, I am constantly inspired by culture, people, identity, and the roles we play in society. My past and present work has been influenced by my investigation into my ethnic and cultural identity as a Chicano (Mexican-American/Latinx) person living in the U.S. I grew up as a 3rd generation Mexican-American, which informs the work I make and speaks to this unique bicultural experience. The pieces I made for MACLA reflect this ongoing process of ethnic/cultural identity evolution. They speak to the Spanish phrase “Ni de aqui, ni de allá '' referencing this limbo space of not being from here nor there. Therefore, I wanted to explore my personal narrative in these pieces in order to shed light on my childhood upbringing. ⁠
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Within these pieces, I wanted to share a connection to my grandparents, who both identified as being Mexican. Often growing up as a child, I did not understand what that meant to be “Mexican.” As a child, one is imparted with these cultural sayings, values, beliefs, and identities, which influence how one views themself in the future. As life progresses, we have many experiences confirming and denying our multiple identities. These labels, beliefs, and emotions stain the innocence of childhood, forever altering who we are.⁠
Self-identity exploration begins in adolescence, where we begin to play with these abstract concepts and find⁠
identities that affirm our true selves. These pieces explore the complexity of my relationship to my cultural heritage⁠and the ongoing patchwork of sewing together that meaning.⁠
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⁠Hijo de Maiz, 2022, ⁠
Acrylic & wool yarn, cotton & polyester fabric, thread,⁠
paper, & matte medium on burlap fabric.⁠
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#macla #gallery #sj #sanjoseart #bayarea #art #supportcultura #community #artist⁠

Come check out Rayos' works at "Pertenecer: To Bel

Come check out Rayos' works at "Pertenecer: To Belong" before it closes this weekend, on March 19th, 2023!⁠
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My name is Rayos Magos, and I identify as a Latinx/Chicano⁠ male, mixed-media artist born and raised in San Jose, CA. My⁠ body of work focuses on symbolism, healing, spirituality,⁠psychology, and social justice. My background is in Counseling⁠ Psychology, with a specialization in Expressive Arts Therapy. I⁠ use art to explore personal narratives and universal themes. I⁠
identify as a mixed media artist because I fluidly create⁠
between mediums such as collage, printmaking, painting, and⁠ sculpture. Each medium brings out certain aspects of my⁠ psyche while mixing all the mediums allows me to integrate⁠ these aspects of my personality and create in a liberating way.⁠
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#macla #gallery #sj #sanjoseart #bayarea #art #supportcultura #community #artist⁠

⁠Come check out Jennifer's works at "Pertenecer:

⁠Come check out Jennifer's works at "Pertenecer: To Belong" before it closes on March 19th, 2023!⁠
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⁠Jennifer's Artist Statement:⁠
La Triguena Morena is Jen’s first collage portrait series that specifically centers Afro-Latina artists and designers whose creative practices are rooted in collective liberation, justice, equitable representation in art and design education, visual media, and disability culture. Despite the lack of consistent disability representation in Black and Brown communities, Jen believes that each of these creative forces should be honored and given their flowers now while they can still receive them.⁠
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⁠Jennifer⁠
Digital Collage on Canvas ⁠
20” x 24”⁠
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#macla #gallery #sj #sanjoseart #bayarea #art #supportcultura #community #artist⁠

Come check out Jennifer's works at "Pertenecer: To

Come check out Jennifer's works at "Pertenecer: To Belong" before it closes on March 19th, 2023!⁠
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Jen White-Johnson is an Afro-Latina disabled art activist, designer, and educator. Jen White-Johnson uses zines and collage art to explore the intersection of content and caregiving with an emphasis on redesigning ableist visual culture. Her creative practice shines best when she can infuse design justice, disability justice, photography, zine making, and art activism to center Afro-Latine and Neurodivergent creativity, care work, and joy as essential acts of resistance.⁠
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Jen has presented her activist work and collaborated with a number of brands and art spaces across print and digital such as Target, Converse, and Apple. Her photography and design work has been featured in The Washington Post, AfroPunk, Latina.com, and Teen Vogue and is permanently archived in libraries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. In 2021 she was listed as 20 Latino Artists to watch on Today.com Jen currently teaches as Adjunct Faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she is also an alumnus, having received her MFA in Graphic Design in 2010. She currently lives in Baltimore with her husband and 10-year-old son.⁠
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⁠#macla #artist #sj #sanjoseart #bayarea #art #supportcultura #community #gallery

Come check out Vanessa's works at "Pertenecer: To

Come check out Vanessa's works at "Pertenecer: To Belong" before it closes on March 19th, 2023!⁠
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Vanessa's Artist Statement:⁠
For the past decade I have been using elements of mythology to explore my identity and personal experiences. I am attracted to mythology because it rides the line of reality and fantasy to tell the origin story of a people. To create belonging for myself in spaces that I struggled to see any representation that felt relatable, my art practice became my home, my place of belonging where I could use my passion for mythology to explore my own creation. I started creating figures built from collaging transparent paper and incorporating insects, bugs, flowers, leaves while simultaneously playing with body language, distortion, and metaphor. With all the nuances that form my identity, I began thinking of myself not just as one but a universe of beings in which the entirety is me. In this universe I’ve created in my work, I utilize elements of myth and archetype to explore the fluidity of identity. I’m interested in exploring the relationship between the body and nature and the role nature plays to strengthen our understanding of self. I began to seek ways to create dialogues between the beings in my work. Through the process of cyanotype prints I found a way to create “windows” into this universe, depicting tender moments of these collaged beings, plants, insects, and myself. ⁠
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For this show, I chose to include sculptural vessels using molds of my face. In these vessels I’ve created floral arrangements. With these vessels, I hope to pay homage to the potential an individual holds and the infinite ways we can grow, evolve, and redefine ourselves. In a visual language exploring the expanses of the human body and mind through a vibrant color palette and organic materials, I am attempting to navigate the complex, imperfect yet beautifully kaleidoscopic nature of a people and thus myself.⁠
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In My Garden, Ceramic; Shedding Perceptions to Be Free, Cyanotype; Small Moments (Part 1) Cyanotype
#macla #artist #sj #sanjoseart #bayarea #art #supportcultura #community #gallery

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MACLA is an inclusive contemporary arts space grounded in the Chicano/Latino experience that incubates new visual, literary and performance art in order to engage people in civic dialogue and community transformation.

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