International Artists-in-Residence: New Works: 08.1

03.10.08

Media Contact: Celina Emery
t 210 212 4900 x323
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cemery@artpace.org
www.artpace.org

San Antonio, TX - Artpace San Antonio is pleased to announce New Works: 08.1 on view through May 11, 2008. Guest curator Franklin Sirmans, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, will present freshly-completed projects by Margarita Cabrera (El Paso, Texas), Regina José Galindo (Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala), and Rodney McMillian (Los Angeles, California)

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Margarita Cabrera's sculptures explore the political and social dichotomies that emerge as a result of the U.S./Mexico border relationship. Her Artpace project, The Craft of Resistance, is exhibited in two parts, the first of which is a working maquiladora set up in her Artpace studio. With its makeshift structure and bright fluorescent lighting, the 12-step assembly line is identical to countless factories found throughout Mexico's flourishing manufacturing industry. During Cabrera's residency, volunteers worked with the artist at the mock factory to produce 2,500 small copper butterflies, the wings of which were imprinted on one side with a monarch butterfly pattern and on the opposite with an impression of the American penny. Thousands of the delicate butterflies were then installed in a private home in a neighboring San Antonio suburb. The beautiful, yet plague-like installation covers the interior of the home, swarming on the ceiling, curtains, chairs, tables, and appliances. Separated from the studio where they were produced, the location of the butterflies emphasizes the disparity between the sights of production and consumption of Mexican-made products in the United States.

Regina José Galindo's performances and poetry address social injustice, gender discrimination, and racism, often focusing on the governmental atrocities of the Guatemalan dictatorship. Responding to the booming industry of private prisons, which include facilities authorized to imprison whole families of men, women, children, and babies, José Galindo rented a prison cell from Sweeper Metal Fabricators Corp. She and her family occupied the cell for a performance that lasted a limited period of time before and during the opening reception for her Artpace project. America's Family Prison will be open for public viewing during the two month exhibition.

Rodney McMillian's multimedia installa¬tions recycle remnants of everyday life into objects that deconstruct the tenets of historical interpretation. At Artpace, McMillian's Untitled comprises a group of five paintings draping from ceiling to floor, vertical columns of anonymous photographic portraits found by the artist, and a ragged chair and rug coated in red paint-all situated beneath a six-pointed, vaulted makeshift paper cathedral ceiling. The sound component, "Pelicans in Texas" by musician Stefan Tcherepnin, is a synthesizer-based minimalist composition, further contributing to the meditative space. Each work references myriad sources-from Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road to 19th-century American and German landscape painting. Seen as a unit, these works form a constellation that situates paintings adjacent to sculpture in order to explore themes related to the landscape, church, and home.

ABOUT THE CURATOR
Franklin Sirmans is the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Menil Collection, Houston, Texas. He has curated numerous exhibitions including Lessons from Below: Otabenga Jones & Associates, Menil Collection (2007); and Basquiat, Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (2005-06), co-curated with Marc Mayer, Fred Hoffman, and Kellie Jones. A former U.S. editor of Flash Art and editor-in-chief of ArtAsiaPacific, he has written for publications such as Art in America, The New York Times, Essence, and Newsweek International. Sirmans was named the 2007 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize, awarded by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA. The Driskell Prize recognizes a scholar or artist whose work makes an original and important contribution to the field of African American art or art history.

EXHIBITION INFORMATION
Exhibition Dates
March 13 - May 11, 2008

Artists' Dialogue and Opening Reception
Thursday, March 13, 6:30-8:00 PM
Preview 6:00 PM; Dialogue 6:30-7:30 PM; Reception 7:30-8:30 PM
Featuring Margarita Cabrera, Regina José Galindo, Rodney McMillian, and Franklin Sirmans, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Menil Collection, Houston, Texas.

Brown Bag Lunch
Wednesday, April 9, 12:00-1:00 PM
Join us for a curator-led tour and brown bag lunch from Sip ($6.50). Please call Artpace for menu and reservations.

Sponsorship
New Works: 08.1 is made possible by the Linda Pace Foundation; City of San Antonio's Office of Cultural Affairs; Nimoy Foundation; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; and Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy; with additional support from the Texas Commission on the Arts.

ABOUT ARTPACE
Artpace San Antonio serves as a laboratory for the creation and advancement of international contemporary art. Artpace believes that art is a dynamic social force that inspires individuals and defines cultures. Our residencies, exhibitions, and education programs nurture the creative expression of emerging and established artists, while actively engaging youth and adult audiences.

Artpace is located downtown at 445 North Main Avenue, between Savings and Martin streets, San Antonio, Texas. Free parking is available at 513 North Flores. Artpace is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12-5 PM, Thursday, 12-8 PM, and by appointment. Admission is free.

© 2008 Artpace San Antonio

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