Artist Statement
From wrestlers and rock stars to pre-Columbian tribes, I appropriate and juxtapose different mask images to reveal the complexities of Mexican/American identities. Referencing myths originating on both sides of the border and using historical photographs, my work shows the limitations of how various groups of people are depicted. My Mexican heritage (a hybrid of cultures) and my American experience have often clashed, leading me to ask: how is difference obliterated in the construction of identities that become stereotyped? My work speaks to the problems of representing entire groups of subjects who forfeit their personal identities for some broader form of representation.
Like the Olmecs’ transformational jaguar, the photocopy-transfer method I use allows me to declare multiple identities. I begin by photocopying photographic images. In order to transfer the toner, the photocopy must be “glued” face-down onto its substrate, sandwiching the ink (the image) between substrate and paper. Through a process of scrubbing the paper pulp, the toner is transferred—image reversed—onto the substrate. This process is repeated until the image is saturated and resembles a print. The materiality of the work speaks to my preoccupation with the nature of the photographic image, which appears as an objective analogue of reality and simultaneously represents the subjectivity of the person behind the viewfinder. Given that an objective representation of an event is impossible, the works use an act of masking, layering, and gridding images to create visually complex dialogues between self and other, old and new, Mexican and American.
CV
1995 BFA California Institute of the Arts
1992 AA Ventura College
Selected Exhibitions
Punk Povera
WUHO Gallery, Los Angeles
2014
Square(s)
François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles
2012
Fellow Travelers
Durden & Ray Gallery, Los Angeles
2010
A Flag For Every Occasion
Wonderland Art Space, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Real Show (title pending)
Summercamp Project, Los Angeles
Mexicali Biennial 09/10 [Traveling Show]
Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art, Los Angeles
2009
Mexicali Biennial 09/10
La Casa del Tunel, Tijuana, Mexico
Mexicali Biennial 09/10
Sala de Arte de la UABC Mexicali, Mexico
Through the Looking Glass
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
2008
Core Artists in Residence Exhibition
The Glassell School of Art and MFAH, Houston
2007
Five Gestures
Sixteen:One, Santa Monica, California
De Pasada Por Los Angeles
Atelier als Supermedium, The Hague, Netherlands
2006
Building Up From The Left Over
Phantom Galleries, Los Angeles, California
MAK Center Artists and Architects in Residency
Mackey Apartments, Los Angeles, California
2005
Whitney ISP Final Projects
New York, New York
2003
Measures of Time
Occidental College Weingart Galleries, Los Angeles, California
2001
The Soul Returns to the Body
Postartum Gallery, Long Beach, California
1998
Point Blank
Charim Klocker Gallery, Vienna, Austria
Curatorial Projects
2007
De Pasada Por Los Angeles
Atelier Als Supermedium, The Hague, Netherlands
1999 The 1999 Wight Biennial Exhibition
The New Wight Gallery, UCLA
Residencies
2007
Core Residency Program, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston
2005
Independent Study Program, The Whitney Museum of American Art
1996 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
Awards/Fellowships/Scholarship
2011 US Artists Project Grant
2008 Core Artist in Residency Fellowship The Eliza Randall Prize
2007 Core Artist in Residence Fellowship, Museum of Fine Arts Houston
2004 Van Lier Foundation Fellowship
1999 Feitelson Arts Foundation Award
1998 Feitelson Arts Foundation Award
1996 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Full Scholarship
1994 Getty Summer Internship Grant
1992 -94 California Institute of the Arts Fellowships
Publications
2009 Artists in Residence (Yearbook), The Glassell School of Art and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (text and image)
2008 Artists in Residence (Yearbook), The Glassell School of Art and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (text and image)
1999 The 1999 Wight Biennial Exhibition Catalog (Co-curator and contributing essay)
The New Wight Gallery, UCLA
Selected Bibliography
2008 Andrea Liu, “Core A.I.R. Exhibition,” ArtUS 23 (summer)
2007 Meredith Goldsmith, “De-centering the Historical Photograph and Imaging a Continuum of Resistance,” Core Residents Yearbook
2005 Michael Wang, Scene & Herd, ArtForum.com (May 27)
Lectures/Presentations
2011 Northwestern University (Lecture and Graduate Studio Visits) Department of Art, Theory and Practice
2010 Mexicali Biennial 09/10 Panel Discussion.
The Ben Meltz Gallery at Otis College of Art, Los Angeles
2008 Contemporary Art Museum (CAM), Houston, Texas
2005 Art Center College of Art and Design, Department of Fine Art
2002 Otis College of Art, Department of Fine Art
Appointments
2005 CAMEL Artist Collective Swing Space at Lower Manhattan Arts Council
1998 The New Wight Gallery Board of Directors UCLA
Collections
Museum of Fine Arts Houston and Various Private Collections