Two of the nation’s preeminent Latin American artists headline a charged exhibition this summer. Discover what contemporary issues are explored and which gallery is the proud host.
In celebration and conjunction with Spanish Market and “Low Rider Summer” in Santa Fe, New Mexico, EVOKE Contemporary is excited to be presenting incredibly charged and beautifully rendered artworks by Nicholas Herrera and Patrick McGrath Muñiz. Opening July 29 and on view through August 20, “Vívido” features paintings, folk art, and sculpture by the two Latin American artists.
Via the gallery, “This event is significant as it is the gallery’s first exhibition featuring the masterful art of Patrick McGrath Muñiz. His politically charged allegorical paintings are glorious in their renaissance-style beauty and highly captivating with the artist’s clever wit and insightful observation of our culture and contemporary issues. Each of Patrick’s intricate paintings includes a special narrative composed by the artist, which will be provided to explain the symbolism to those who are curious.
Nicholas Herrera, “Infierno,” 2016, wood and natural pigments, 39 x 31 x 13 in. (c) EVOKE Contemporary 2016
“The paintings of Patrick McGrath Muñiz respond to our consumerist society and its indifference to global, ecological, and social injustice. As a painter coming from a Roman Catholic background and growing up during the 1980’s and 90’s in the island of Puerto Rico (the oldest colony in the Western hemisphere) Patrick was greatly inspired by pop culture icons, Christian Iconography and mythological imagery present in Art History, Tarot and Astrology. These sources provide a set of universal archetypes that allow him to re-interpret our current socio-economic and cultural conditions holistically, viewing world history as cyclical and interconnected from an archetypal perspective.”
Continuing, EVOKE reports, “Nicholas Herrera is being honored with the 2016 Governor’s Award of Excellence in the Arts [as he] presents his newest body of work. Nicholas is a 15th generation New Mexican and a legendary contemporary Santero who has made a remarkable contribution to the arts and is an inspiration to us all. His early years were filled with drugs, alcohol and trouble with the police which led to a head-on crash and several weeks in a coma. He miraculously survived and since that accident has dedicated his life to his art. In his words, ‘El arte me salvo la vida.’ Art saved his life.
“Nicholas Herrera’s work includes carvings, paintings and large-scale sculptures made from wood and found objects, with his varied and sometimes controversial subjects reflecting his eventful and tempestuous life. Nicholas is a modern ‘Vato Santero’ whose art engages the complex dialectical traditions of the Indian and Hispanic, as well as the traditional and the contemporary Hispanic. Today Nicholas Herrera is one of the best-known American folk artists, and his work is in the permanent collections of more than 30 museums including the Smithsonian American Art Museum.”
To learn more, visit EVOKE Contemporary.
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