Press Release: Alex de Leon

New Works: 96.2
05.15.96

Dorothy Cross - DUBLIN, IRELAND
Lewis deSoto - SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Alex de Leon - SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Exhibition: June 7 - July 14, 2006

The International Artist-in-Residence Program sponsored by ArtPace, A
Foundation for Contemporary Art | San Antonio presents the sixth in a series of
New Works projects realized by artists living and working at ArtPace. Dorothy
Cross, Lewis deSoto and Alex de Leon were selected to participate in the
program by a renowned panel of arts professionals brought together by The
Foundation in October of 1994. Members of the panel were: Mary Beebe,
Director of the Stuart Collection, The University of California, San Diego; Benito
Huerta, Artist, Houston, Texas; Anthony Jones, Rector and Vice Provost, Royal
College of Art, London; Richard Koshalek, Director, Museum of Contemporary
Art, Los Angeles; Lowery Sims, Curator 20th Century Art, New York; and Dianne
Vanderlip, Curator of 20th Century Art, Denver Art Museum.

Alex de Leon
Alex de Leon has transformed the upstairs gallery at ArtPace into a glittery
nightclub-like environment. With black plastic-covered walls, long mylar fringe,
and large surveillance mirrors, the space has taken on the tacky-chic ambience
of the neighborhood bar or low-rent disco. To complete the illusion, de Leon
includes bottles of alcohol and glass-fronted cases replete with packages of
cigarettes. Images of police cars adorn the walls. Based on the theme of
addiction, the installation investigates some of the more obvious forms of
destructive behavior and through them the pervasiveness of many other kinds of
addiction (such as love or work) in contemporary American life. De Leon is not
sitting in judgment or condemning abusers or their addictions, but realistically
displaying their causes for our consideration.

De Leon is a long-time resident of San Antonio who was born in Edinburg, Texas
in 1959. After receiving a B.F.A. in Printmaking from the Kansas City Art Institute
in 1983, he turned his attention to ceramics for which he is best known. La Luz
Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, Fergus Fernandez Gallery in Houston, and
Milagros Contemporary Art, San Angel Gallery and the Southwest Crafts Center
in San Antonio have mounted solo exhibitions of de Leon's work. His designs
have been featured on The Bob Newhart Show and The Tracy Ullman
Show, as well as in the motion pictures Six Degrees of Separation,
Reversal of Fortune and Madonna's Truth or Dare. De Leon's
installation at ArtPace is his largest and most elaborate to date.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org