Press Release: Kathy Vargas

02.15.97

THE INTERNATIONAL ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM

NEW WORKS: 97.1

Anya Gallaccio ?NDON, ENGLAND

Nancy Rubins ?PANGA, CALIFORNIA*

Kathy Vargas ?N ANTONIO, TEXAS

Exhibition: March 14 pril 20, 1997

Rubins' installation opens May 1, 1997

The International Artist-in-Residence Program sponsored by ArtPace, A Foundation
for Contemporary Art | San Antonio presents New Works: 97.1, a series of
installations by artists living and working at ArtPace. Anya Gallaccio was selected to
participate in the International Artist-in-Residence Program by the March 1996 IAIR
Program Panel, consisting of Elizabeth Armstrong, David Avalos, Dana Friis-Hansen,
Thelma Golden and Maaretta Jaukkuri. Nancy Rubins and Kathy Vargas were selected
by October 1994 panelists Mary Beebe, Benito Huerta, Anthony Jones, Richard
Koshalek, Lowery Sims and Dianne Vanderlip. Work produced by the artists during their
six-week residencies will be exhibited in New Works: 97.1, which opens to the
public on Friday, March 14, 1997. Rubins' installation will open on May 1, 1997.

Kathy Vargas

Born and raised in San Antonio in 1950, Kathy Vargas received her MFA degree from
the University of Texas, San Antonio in 1984. She has had numerous one-person
exhibitions at spaces including Sala Uno in Rome, Galeria Juan Martin in Mexico City,
the Women's Center at The University of Santa Barbara, and a retrospective in Erlangen,
Germany. Vargas' work was included in the seminal exhibit, Chicano Art:
Resistance and Affirmation (CARA) organized by UCLA's Wight Gallery, and
Hospice: A Photographic Inquiry, organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Vargas
is also the Visual Arts Director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio.

For New Works: 97.1, Vargas presents States of Grace: Angels for the
Living/Prayers for the Dead, an installation of her signature hand-tinted photographs
and sculptures incorporating photography. The imagery Vargas employs is extracted
from both personal and cultural sources. Two new series of works are being presented, a
memorial for Vargas' mother, who died in 1996, and in honor of the death of two friends.
A series of portraits, titled Miracle Lives, celebrates the everyday struggles and victories
of close friends. The works combine abstracted black-and-white images of Mexican icons
such as milagros, and Spanish text with natural materials including thorns, roses, and
bird wings, which are meticulously hand-tinted and framed in silver dusted shadow
boxes. The installation also includes silk-screened paper kites, and large scale, hand-
painted color mural prints. The works are dramatically displayed in the upstairs gallery,
which has been painted the color of dried blood. The installation of Vargas' work was a
collaboration with Ric Collier, the Director of Salt Lake Art Center.

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