Chicano art has experienced a renaissance of sorts in galleries across the country.
The McNay Art Museum in San Antonio has an extensive collection of Latino art displayed across its several galleries.
One gallery wall features the artwork, Six Yellow Conchas by Eva Marengo Sanchez. The oil painting depicts photorealistic images of conchas, Mexican pan dulce or pastries.
Another nook of the gallery houses an installation that pays tribute to migrant lives that were lost. It features an orange life vest, rosaries, and news clippings.
As the McNay’s first curator of Latinx art, San Antonio native Mia Lopez is charged with expanding the McNay’s growing collection of Latinx works.
She said the museum tries to make Latino art inviting to both casual visitors and those who may know more about contemporary art.
“There are many different ways that we make the galleries inviting,” she said. “One of them is having themes that are clearly accessible. Again, going to this notion of belonging.”
Other artworks by Latino artists include a holographic wall display by West Coast artist duo, the De la Torre brothers and a large canvas by Vincent Valdez that mimics the posing of Mexican Americans who were lynched in the Southwest.
Lopez also gave Fronteras an exclusive look at an artwork that isn’t yet on display at the McNay: Burden Narratives While Stuck In Traffic in Pursuit of an Obligation at the Port of Entry by artist Fausto Fernandez.
Splotches of pink, gray, and white depict the outlines of cars lined up to cross the international bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“What I really love about this piece is that he has taken this very common experience and has aestheticized it in a way that I think is recognizable to anybody who drives or has been stuck in traffic,” she said. “It also captures that specificity, that very tedious experience of what it’s like to be in that tedious line.”
Listen to part one of the conversation with Lopez here.
Lopez will discuss “The Latinx Lens in American Art” on Dec. 14th at the McNay Art Museum.
Click here to register.
View video of some of the artwork below:
