Selections
from the Permanent Collection:
The Fine Art of Civic Engagement
Tuesday,
September 28 - Thursday, October 21, 2004
Public Reception: Tuesday, September
28, 6-8 p.m.
"Alimentacion"
by Leonel Tenorio, serigraph, 17 1/2" h. x 12"
w. 1996 |
An
exhibition of artworks that exemplify civic engagement
selected from the Western Illinois University Art Gallery
Permanent Collection . The exhibit presents a portfolio
of eighteen serigraph prints by eighteen Mexican artists
entitled "DEMANDAS DEL PUEBLO" ("DEMANDS
OF THE PEOPLE".)
The
portfolio was printed in Mexico by members of the Convencion
Metropolitana de Artistas y Trabajadores de la Cultura
(Metropolitan Convention of Artists and Workers of the
Culture) in 1996. The portfolio was produced in the
spirit and long tradition in Twentieth Century Mexican
art of organized artists producing collective art projects
with social, political or economic commentary for the
public good, as well as for their own mutual education
and support. (A well-known example of this tradition
in Mexican art is the TGP or Taller de Graphica Popular,
of the 1930s and 1940s, continuing until 1977.)
|
The
portfolio features the work of Edouardo Ramirez, Leopoldo Morales
Praxedis, Raquel Huerta, Lionel Tenorio, Cuauhtemoc Venancio
S., Antonio Valverde' Jose Salome Villavicencio T., Iseo Noyola,
Manuel Zompa, Francisco Valdes, David Gallegos, Jaime Milacatl,
Mario Romero, Edouardo Juarez, Ignacio Alfonso, Filipe Hernandez,
Grafica Espiral, and Jorge Perez Vega. The topics or "demands"
represented in the prints include Paz (Peace), Tierra (Land),
Techo (Housing), Alimentacion (Food), Educacion (Education),
Salud (Health), Cultura (Culture), Informacion (Information
or Knowledge), Trabajo (Work), Democracia (Democracy), Libertad
(Liberty), Justicia (Justice), Independencia (Independence),
Seguridad (Security), Contra la Corrupcion (Against Corruption),
Medio Ambiente (Environment), Portada (Protection) and Presentacion
(Demonstration). The exhibition also includes socially or politically
charged works by Mario Castillo, Honoré Daumier, William
Hogarth, Francisco Goya, and Steven R. D. Barry, a winner in
the 2004 Department of Art's Annual Juried Student Awards Show.
This exhibition is held in conjunction with and in support of
Western Illinois University's "American Democracy Project"
and the 2004-2005 Campus Theme: "Now is the time…
Civic Engagement" and is co-sponsored by Casa Latina and
the University Art Gallery.
