Los Olvidados (The Forgotten)

A group exhibition curated by Carlos Donjuan
November 28-December 30, 2015
Opening reception Saturday, November 28, 6:30-8:30 pm
Artists will be in attendance

Kirk Hopper Fine Art is pleased to announce a group exhibition curated by artist Carlos Donjuan entitled Los Olvidados (The Forgotten). The exhibit features selected works by artists Richard Armendariz, WERC Alvarez, Miguel Donjuan, Benito Huerta, César Martínez, Rosemary Meza-DesPlas, and Shek Vega.

Given the recent rise of pejorative rhetoric and hardline stances taken by a select few condemning those whom contribute to the social fabric of our communities. Los Olvidados aims to personalize what many have labeled as criminals and rapists. Policy prescriptions declare, "we are being taken advantage of" and that the only required remedy is, "they have to go." But just who are these individuals? Are they undesirables or are they tasked to do the undesirable?

The works featured in show will highlight a variety of styles and mediums from each individual artist from different regions in Texas.

Artist Biographies

Richard Armendariz was raised in El Paso, Texas, which borders Las Cruces, New Mexico and Juarez, Mexico. There he was surrounded by a mix of romanticism for the American landscape and the hybridization of Mexican, American, and indigenous cultures. Images that have cultural, biographical, and art historical references are carved and burned into the surface of the paintings and drawings.

Armendariz's new work depicts narco-culture, faith healers and poisonous love set against a western sky. This is a continued exploration of forces shaping the landscape at the U.S.-Mexico border. Mysticism, the nefarious aftermath of narco-activities, and corrosive love affairs are explored in this most recent body of work.

César Martínez, born in Laredo, Texas, was a major figure in the Chicano art movement on the late 1970s and 1980s. He is based in San Antonio, where he makes portraits that have become icons of Texas art history. Martínez's work has been included in the landmark exhibits La Frontera/The Border: Art about the Mexican-U.S. Border Experience, CARA-Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation 1965-1985, and Hispanic Art in the United States. He has also shown at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; the San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio; and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston.

Benito Huerta received a B.F.A. degree from the University of Houston, and his M.A. from New Mexico State University. He was Co-founder, Executive Director and Emeritus Board Director of Art Lies, a Texas art journal. He is a Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington where he has been Director/Curator of The Gallery at UTA since 1997. As a curator he has organized traveling surveys/retrospectives of Dalton Maroney, Luis Jimenez, Mel Chin, and Celia Alvarez Munoz. He is currently organizing a retrospective of the work of John Hernandez for 2016 at The Gallery at UTA.