Opening Sunday, January 26 at the El Paso Museum of Art and remaining on view through May 11, 2014, in the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Gallery, this exhibit, “Gaspar Enríquez: Metaphors of El Barrio” will showcase his works throughout his career, which has been assembled from collections throughout the United States.
After more than thirty years working as an artist, Gaspar Enríquez is at last being recognized as one of El Paso’s most respected and hardest working artists. Often identified as “the quintessential Chicano Texas artist,” who blends realism with contemporary popular culture.
Additionally, one could easily go down a list counting off the significant series of artworks and other accomplishments of Enríquez’s career such as, the wearable and the book-like metal objects of the La Familia series; the black and white full-figure portraits of the En la Esquina series; the artist portraits and metal heart icons of the Puro Corazon series; and the publication of the twelve paintings of the Elegy on the Death of Cesar Chavez series.
The above does not stop there, however more does not even mention the artist’s involvement with numerous mural projects throughout El Paso as well as the years contributed as president of the Juntos Art Association, including the three decades teaching art at Bowie High School.
His subjects range from children to teenagers, from artists to everyday persons and typically depict persons from El Barrio, where the artist grew up.
The slice of culture that artist-educator Enríquez explores includes many details about the importance of traditions, family and identity in Mexican-American life. Integrating the iconography of youth culture, and Catholic and pre-Columbian religious simultaneously, Enríquez subtly critiques/examines the bicultural, Chicano experience.
Even after retiring from teaching art Enríquez continues to balance numerous complex projects simultaneously. For example, for the last several years Enríquez has been deeply involved in the restoration of an ancient adobe building into studio spaces in the 400-year-old presidio of San Elizario in El Paso’s Mission Valley. And since 2012 Enríquez has been busy completing numerous sketches and several large portrait paintings as part of a commission for the new El Paso Baseball Stadium.
MORE DETAILS: Call915. 532.1707 or see: www.elpasoartmuseum.org or http://gasparenriquez.com.
Editor’s note: On view in this exhibit is over fifty paintings, prints and sculptures from 1983 – 2013, in addition a video interview with the artist and a book of the same title with texts by Constance Cortez, Ruben Cordova, Christian Gerstheimer, Benito Huerta and Lucy Lippard.
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Founded in 1959, the El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) is a major cultural and educational resource for West Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. The Museum houses a permanent collection of over 6,000 works of art. In addition to displaying works from its holdings, the Museum offers a diverse schedule of temporary exhibitions, films, lectures, concerts, and other educational programs to the general public. EPMA has a steady record of accreditation by the American Association of Museums. The Museum was first accredited in 1972, then re-accredited in 1985 and, most recently, in 2001. Since the new downtown building opened in 1998, the Museum serves approximately 80,000 visitors per year.