WHAT:
A solo exhibition featuring works on paper created over the past decade by San Francisco artist, Enrique Chagoya.
WHEN:
Artist Reception – Saturday, July 10th @ 7:30 p.m.
Exhibition runs through Saturday, August 28th
Artist Talk, a conversation with Jennifer Gonzalez, UCSC: Sat. August 28, 4p.m.
Galería de la Raza is pleased to present YTREBIL/Prints and Drawings by Enrique Chagoya, a solo exhibition featuring 38 etchings, codices, serigraphic prints and drawings the San Francisco-based artist has created over the past decade. The exhibition includes works inspired by the format of political satire and editorial cartoons that reference current events, works that poke fun at the politics of the artworld, and multi-panel visual narratives presented in the tradition of the accordian-folded books of the Aztec codices.
Born in Mexico City in 1953, Chagoya came to the U.S. in 1977. Drawing from his experiences living on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, Chagoya has developed a rich iconography that draws from pop culture, comics, religious imagery, Art History, and pre-Columbian motifs. Using whimsical visual metaphors with a dark flare, Chagoya’s works explore multilayered narratives about the conflicts of history, culture, politics, and economics through history and present day events, such as illegal immigration, racial stereotyping, and xenophobia in a post-9/11 world.
He is known for working with concepts he terms “reverse art history” and “reverse anthropology, ” through which he explores the fine line that divides colonial and post-colonial interpretations of power from the perspective of the defeated. Based on a drawing by that name, the exhibition title captures this “reverse” perspective in the term “ytrebil,” which is “Liberty” spelled backwards.
A former Artistic Director of Galeria de la Raza (1987-1990), this exhibition is a homecoming for Enrique Chagoya. He has been a key figure in Galería’s history, and throughout the years has continued to play a role in Galería’s activities. From his beginnings at Galería, he has proceeded to build an international reputation for himself as painter and printmaker.
Chagoya earned a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MA and MFA from UC Berkeley. Chagoya is currently a Full Professor at Stanford University’s Department of Art and Art History. His work can be found in many public collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Metropolitan Museum; the Whitney Museum of American Art; Des Moines Art Center in Iowa; LA County Museum of At in Los Angeles; San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Berkeley Art Museum; and the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University among others. He has been the recipient of numerous awards such as two NEA artists fellowships; a Tiffany Fellowship; an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; a President’s Award for Excellence from the San Francisco Art Institute; and a grant from Artadia, to mention a few. He is represented by Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco, CA; George Adams Gallery in New York, NY; and Lisa Sette Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ. His prints are published by Shark’s Ink in Lyons, Co; Segura Publishing in Pueblo, AZ; Trillium Press in Brisbaine, CA; Smith Andersen Editions in Palo Alto, CA; Magnolia Editions in Oakland, CA; Electric Works in San Francisco, CA; ULAE in Bay Shore, NY; and the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York, NY.
