In the heart of the Lavaca District in San Antonio sits the Presa House. At first glance it seems like a small little house that blends into the rest of the neighborhood. It is when you first step inside that you are bombarded with everything this space has to offer. Whether it is the smell of the alcohol from the bar in the back, or the bright lights that dazzle off and from the amazing works on display, you know when you enter that you’re going to have a fun time and unique experience. Presa House is currently featuring two exhibitions. On display is Useless Systems and Guacho Style. Robert Jackson Harrington’s and Hector Hernandez’s collaboration of Useless Systems showcases collections of everyday objects, like brooms and small toys, and reformed them into new creations whose meanings seem to be missing. Their collaboration also features photography of figures modeling equally eclectic fashions, for example, large constructions that may envelop the majority of their body. Ruben Luna’s Gaucho Style features common, every day, ordinary, like prayer candles and sandals, combined into alter like collections. Most viewers could find these creations as familiar and humorous, like the ‘Do what you love’/ ‘dale’ sign, while also contributing to a very serious political commentary, such as the piece, MAGA Chancla, in the style of Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ hats. To me, the Presa House was the embodiment of the spirit of San Antonio and it’s culture. It was a very fun space and an intoxicating experience that reminded me of a lot of some of the festivals and areas special to San Antonio. It was bright, it was loud, and it was proud of its culture, just like the surrounding area of the Lavaca District. Gaucho Style reminded me the most of this and was my personal favorite part of the gallery. I loved how the pieces are composed of very common objects but these objects have a personal meaning for every person, and Ruben even used this to tell his own personal narrative. While the compactness of the space may have been a turn off for some people, I thought that this too meshed so very well with the gallery and the exhibitions and even the bar as a whole. These works are about commonality and resourcefulness and putting all of that into such a tight space was like the meaning was literally being utilized in the space that contained it. I feel as if it was a wonderful representation of how you do not need a luxurious space to show others what you are proud of and have a good time. Overall, the Presa House was a very unique environment mean to make an impression. It is supposed to leave every one of its visitors with an experience. It is a preview of what the San Antonian culture is like and how fun it can be. I am very glad to have been able to visit this space and experience the work inside of it. Laney Moreno
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Breaking, pulling apart, dissecting, organizing art down to its most vulnerable form is not something one would think of when thinking about a finished piece. It is, in fact, the total opposite of what anyone would want to happen to their work upon completion. The artists and their work currently on display at Blue Star Contemporary in San Antonio are not afraid to explore these seemingly taboo ideas in their work, as many of these elements in seen in various unconventional forms through paintings, sculptures, performance video, medical supplies, and every day objects formed into that of a personal piece of work. The four artists involved in the exhibition are Tsuyoshi Anzai, Larry Graeber and Sterling Allen, Margaret Craig, and Joey Fauerso. The person who’s work I kept getting drawn to was Joey Fauerso’s. She, a familiar Texas State professor to many of us, and her work, Teardown, appears to showcase this idea of the relationship between not only deconstruction and human nature, but destruction and politics. Her work, occupying much of the space at Blue Star Contemporary, appears to be the main exhibition. Black and white paintings line the gallery walls. These paintings depict humans in an almost primal form, perhaps alluding back to prehistoric art. A long canvas lining the wall has history of being directly tied to the White House, and showcases the political destruction that has erupted throughout the past few years. The performance video shows people throwing pieces of art at other pieces of art, the emotion lined through their faces perhaps the main focus of what ties human beings and the therapeutic art of destruction/deconstruction or stripping away at the complete. Joey's work is only one of the many examples of "construction vs deconstruction" that has been referred to within the exhibition spaces. It is an art practice that has been explored for many years, assessing the more internal and perhaps even unconventional aspects to finalizing a piece of work.
We tend to ask in the creative process “how can a piece can be constructed?” but hardly ever do we ask “how can a piece can be deconstructed?”, and if one would still consider it a finished piece at that point. How can it be stripped down, what is the peak or the highest point of finalization in our work flows and how can we work backwards from that? by Taylor Morey The African-American novelist and activist James Baldwin once said, “I still believe that we can do with this country something that has not been done before. We are misled here because we think of numbers. You don’t need numbers, you need passion. And this is proven by the history of the world. The tragedy is that most of the people who say they care about it do not care. What they care about is their safety and their profits.” At the Presa House Gallery, located in the historic Lavaca district of San Antonio, Useless Systems and Gacho Style on view from October 4th through October 26th explore Hispanic identity in present-day Texas by alluding to our nation’s history of appropriating and commodifying marginalized cultures.Useless Systems is a collaborative project between Texas-natives Roberto Jackson Harrington and Hector Hernandez. Both artists’ works entail found, everyday objects that are primarily industrial in nature. Harrington, working in sculpture and installation, carefully places various found objects such as, suitcases, Modelo beer boxes, flashlights, clips, ropes, lighters, plastic straws, etc., to embody mechanical structures. The interplay between the bright neon objects is playful, and contrasts well with the white walls and gray floors. These assemblages are technically, "useless,' but mimic the forms of machinery I've at one point in my life interacted with. These are essentially hybrids of "real" mechanical systems, yet no single form can fully manifest as it is muddied by the persona of the found object it is made of. Hernandez’s photographs featured in the show also present brightly colored industrial tools, like construction lights, tires and cords, but in these, they interact with human bodies whose faces are not shown. What is man without a face? There is no individual, no autonomy -- like a machine. The paradox posed by Useless Systems is rooted in the machine-like appearance of the works, though it is evident that these assemblages do not actually possess any operative capabilities. The concept at play here then aims to disorient the human tendency to assign purpose or function to, well, everything. We draw from the associations that we have regarding various concepts and objects to form relationships between different elements, in order to arrive at a decidedly logical conclusion or outcome. However, these pre-established conditions are largely informed by the economic structures of Capitalism, enabling us to evaluate adequate outcomes in terms of production. Additionally, we’ve been taught to associate certain objects with specific socio-economic classes; Which class or culture is most often associated with these industrial materials, and why? How? Harrington and Hernandez challenge viewers to be content with the haphazard, while also fragmenting a narrative in U.S. history of assigning class through commodity production and marketing.Gacho Style previews the work of another Texas-native artist, Ruben Luna. Luna is also working with found objects, such as: neon signs, wrestling masks, mouse traps, gas tanks, both a traditional catholic votive candle and a Spurs votive candle, a figurine of Selena Quintanilla, a wooden plaque with bull horns, and trailer-hitch testicle chains attached to candles and ceramic sandals. Collectively, the found objects seemingly correspond to Texan and Hispanic culture, and are obviously subversive as they directly reference the exploitation of Latin culture through commodification in the United States. For example, a young George Straight serenading an audience in a cowboy hat and a button-down pearl snap shirt; the white man's vaquero. Arguably, the most explicit work is a red sandal bearing the text, “Metele Al Gacho Americano.” The translation is dependent on context and punctuation, but is parodying Donald Trump’s 2016 election slogan “Make America Great Again,” suggested by the piece’s title “MAGA Chancla.” Additionally, “Gacho” loosely translates to “un-cool.” In Gacho Style, Luna is inverting the stigmatization these commodities possess by embracing and celebrating the Hispanic-American narrative at a time when prominent political figures are using blatantly xenophobic language towards marginalized cultures, and are even utilizing federal agencies to tear these families apart. Luna is asserting the strength and unity within the Hispanic community during a period of nauseating political turmoil approaching the 2020 election. In both Useless Systems and Gacho Style the artists are creating assemblages composed of found objects that address the history of commodification, appropriation and stigmatization of marginalized cultures in the United States. Additionally, the concept of function-less mechanisms could be applied to the inadequacy of our established system of governance, and the ways that it has been largely-driven in pursuit of the mass production of commodities and capital gain, rather than providing basic human rights to all of its citizens; liberty and justice for all, our founding texts boast. In seeing Useless Systems and Gacho Style, I encourage viewers to reflect on our consumption of products, and how advertorial language communicate messages that implement stereotypes regarding various ethnicities and socio-economic classes in the United States. Furthermore, how does this class-differentiation via commodification uphold a divide that is currently being reinforced by xenophobic rhetoric used in politics today? It is crucial that we, as spectators and as U.S. citizens, are skeptical of these commodities and the messages they instill in our social, economic, and political climate. As James Baldwin suggested, it is far overdue to realign our nation’s central focus on monetary growth to instead operate on one humane principle: passion.
Have you ever entered a building or a room and were suddenly overwhelmed by its presence, either in a negative or positive way? When visiting Presa House Gallery, located in San Antonio, Texas, I was immediately immersed and consumed within this 1,306 sq. ft home, and when I think of how the experience made me feel overall, I can surprisingly say wholly electric. When I entered Presa House, I first observed how small the building itself is. Tucked away on South Presa Street, its small appearance took me by surprise, thinking to myself, 'where are they supposed to fit everything?', but upon entering the building itself it opened up into into its own entity. The building was playing upbeat, bright techno-style fun music, and there were disco-esque lights that encompassed the room to the right as well. While the house itself was extremely small, and at times I felt a bit claustrophobic I will admit, It still didn't take away from the positive experience I had. In the first room on the left as well as the room on the right are works by Robert Jackson Harrington and Hector Hernandez in collaboration, which they call Useless Systems. Personally, this was one of my favorite exhibits because of how effortlessly they both combine every day objects, and these objects have their own presence and personality. When looking at their work, I felt inspired to look at my own every day objects in a new, eccentric, playful way, and how these objects have their own personality just like the works by Harrington and Hernandez. The main difference I noticed throughout Harrington and Hernandez' collaboration is that Harrington focuses on incorporating toys into his work and creates a child-like atmosphere, whereas Hernandez' objects appear to take on shapes of bodies. When I entered the back of the building, I came across the last exhibit by Ruben Luna, called Gacho Style. When I entered this exhibit I was intrigued by everything I came across and was fully immersed in his pieces that were displayed. This exhibit had a western style but also looked like it was set in the 1950's with a vintage jukebox off to the side. The desert paintings and deer skull made me think of the Old West, however the jukebox and neon lights made me think of a diner in the 50's. The only thing that I was questionable about was the addition of the lucha libre mask that was next to the jukebox. Like Useless Systems, Gacho Style also incorporated every day objects but turned them into the extraordinary. My experience at Presa House Gallery was anything but ordinary. I experienced a place that from the outside doesn't look like it has a lot to offer, but on the inside was a completely different story. The gallery gave off such fun, electric, and vibrant energy that I was sucked in the moment I stepped foot inside. This was by far the most fun I've had at a contemporary art gallery, and my advice is that you should go in with a completely open mind to all experiences in life. Lauren Sollohub. In her lecture at Texas State University on October 8, Becky Duval Reese spoke on her time as the director of the El Paso Museum of Art. She has worn many hats throughout her time as director, saying that she has worked almost every job within the museum including curator and educator- everything except inventory cataloger. When she began working at EPMA in 1991, she described the state of the museum as being treated like a country club. The museum’s collection and exhibits did not represent the people of El Paso, a city with a large Hispanic population. Rather, the city viewed the museum as exclusionary and a waste of city money. “I saw that in El Paso, there was strong European art, strong Early American art, but not much contemporary art. I focused my collecting… on Texas and regional artists,” Duval Reese said. Duval Reese saw the need for change within museum content and began working to discover ways to get the community back into the museum. “El Paso [Museum of Art] is city funded. Two years before I had gone to El Paso, the city had done a survey because there had been some community discourse about how unhappy a lot of people in the community were about the professionalism of the museum,” Duval Reese explained. After losing a chance for bond money, the city studied the situation and changed the active personnel into advisory personnel in hopes of making a change. That’s when Duval Reese entered as the new director of EPMA. “My boss at the time was the mayor and she told me ‘All I want you to do is open the doors of the museum to the public.’ And I said, ‘I know how to do that.’ At the time, El Paso was about 70% Hispanic and there were absolutely no exhibits that addressed that community. We knew it was time to change.” In 1998, the EPMA acquired the old Greyhound bus station and set to the task of creating their new museum space there. Duval Reese had a specific list of requirements to make the new museum space as efficient as possible, but she was working within a limited budget to do so. She focused her efforts on the HVAC and security systems, mandatory for keeping art safe and preserved, as well as the loading dock and freight elevator, necessary for moving up to 2,000-pound works of sculpture. “There was a fine art truck driver… who said, ‘You know, I don’t know much about that El Paso Museum of Art but it has one of the best loading docks in the country.’ It was nice, and true. We can function,” Duval Reese said. “Infrastructure is what makes all things possible.” The new museum space and community engagement has flipped the purpose of the museum within El Paso. By focusing on diversity and local artists, the museum has been transformed into a welcoming space. EPMA now has art labels in both English and Spanish and docents are trained to speak in less formal, more high school level language to engage with younger members of the community and keep the museum accessible. Duval Reese’s time as director has truly brought the museum into a new era of engagement with the people of El Paso. Duval Reese encouraged both art students and art history students to take part in museums as an opportunity to grow and experience art. “When I could visit artist’s studios and see what artists are doing and I could organize exhibitions and write about exhibitions, that was pure joy. And that’s something I hope you all get in your careers.” Aubrey Holt Becky Duval Reese is an accomplished curator, most recognized for her transformation of the El Paso museum scene. I had the pleasure of being able to hear her speak recently at Texas State University about her time at the El Paso Museum of Art.
Reese started by recounting the renovations that took place at the museum in the 90’s and the issues she felt were most important to have settled in a museum. Things the average museum goer would never even think about. The back end of the museum which is crafted to be hidden from the view of the public. The HVAC systems that are important to art preservation, planning where the freight elevator that transports art around the museum is placed and where it lets out on the museum floor. The loading dock, where art is dropped off and picked up, was anecdotally hailed, “the best museum freight entrance in all of the southwest.” And also, the security systems used by the museum. All of these things, you would never even think about as you walk through a museum to observe and interact with art (which is by design). This was all a conscious push by Reese as she wanted to make sure that the museum had a strong back bone and was able to function without issue. When planning museum layout, there are many things you must take into consideration, the biggest being the flow of the museum and how it is laid out. This will have the biggest effect on how art is viewed and understood by patrons. Even creating a layout that will help reduce “museum fatigue” in order for patrons to not become overwhelmed and frustrated with the museum. Creating a layout that has a good flow and that has flexible space for many types of displays spanning from early Native American work to modern works by artists who are influential to the community can be incredibly difficult, but something Reese has tackled with ease. When it came to the curation side of the museum, Reese was on a mission to create a space that represented the region of Texas and more specifically El Paso, and the smaller community surrounding the museum. Creating a space that locals could come into and feel at home and understood in was incredibly important to her. She sought out local established artists creating works that would be relatable to the community and gave them a place to exist. Engaging with the community in that way was important but having an understanding of what was important to that community in the first place was something Reese also had to accomplish. In order to appeal to the Spanish speaking community Reese had labels and informational brochures in both English and Spanish, in order to encourage a younger crowd, docents were taught to speak at a high school level. Reese worked hard to establish exhibitions that addresses issues in the communities you exist in. In that way you can increase patronage and appreciation for the arts and for the artists working in those areas, which is a lesson that many museums could stand to benefit from learning. Annabel Marshall "The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members." - Coretta Scott King. Becky Duval Reese is a woman who was the forefront for change in the El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA). For starters, Reese found her love for art history through postcards she had picked out at a kiosk back when she worked for the Dean of Women at UT, where one of her mentors informed her on the artwork and name of the artist and became wholly intrigued. Then, she began her journey at New Mexico State University where she was the first person to run an art gallery at that institution, finding the shows and students all by herself. Looking back, she stated that she, "learned a lot through trial and error". Then in 1991, she moved to El Paso, Texas where she began her journey as the director of the El Paso Museum of Art and oversaw the creation of the new EPMA downtown in 1998, where she would remain until her retirement in 2005. Reese states that upon her arrival to the museum, "people treated the museum like a country club" and that there was, "community outrage towards a bond for the unprofessional museum. The people wanted to have a more community feel to it." Thus, during her time at EPMA she began to focus her time by listening to the community and making changes to the art museum for the better. El Paso is a predominately Hispanic community, yet there was no representation of this heritage in this art museum. Sure, artists like Rembrandt and Monet are great to look at, but Reese wanted her community to feel like they belonged, and that she aimed for, "diversity and balance in the museum", and wanted to see, "culture validated on the museum walls". Reese then stated that there was a, "two year battle of the soul of the art museum", meaning that there was a battle between the people who funded the museum, or in her terms part of the country club, and the people who were fighting for change, like Reese herself. Eventually, Reese came out on top and soon enough won her battle. The museum began to show artwork that consisted of Hispanic culture as well as diversity in general, and the people of El Paso couldn't have been more pleased. The museum even had labels in English as well as Spanish, which had never been done before. The EPMA to this day primarily focuses on diversity as well as Hispanic culture representation and local artists. When Becky Duval Reese talks about her time at the EPMA, she talks about it with such pleasure, devotion, and gratitude that you can practically feel the love radiating off of her. Reese dedicated her time to not only crafting an exquisite museum, but taking the time to understand and build with the community when no one else would. Without Reese's magnetism and eccentricity for new and local art, as well as art that showcased the community itself, there wouldn't be the EPMA as we know it to be today. What we can take away from this is that if you want change to happen, you can't be afraid of it, and that caring for your community should be a key aspect in your life. When you take care of your community, it, in return, will take care of you. As a result, the EPMA is a role model for diversity as well as a role model for the city of El Paso. I would even go as far to say that Mrs. Duval-Reese is a role model for the city of El Paso. AuthorLauren Sollohub “There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.” - Abraham Lincoln Or maybe not. We’ll never know with the modern society built off news articles from The Onion and untrustworthy Wikipedia articles. A common media source we would rarely question is photography. Photography is often used as proof or evidence, we also think of stalkers in red rooms, getting a closer look at our personal life. Rebecca Marino thinks this is a comical way of looking at photography. Thinking that the medium itself is, “extremely malleable and vulnerable and can be manipulated.” With photography comes filters and photoshop and sometimes none of it at all. Countless times have I seen a video on my Instagram feed of people supposedly jumping into a cup or holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. As Marino puts it, even the frame we choose manipulates a photo. Without realizing it, a person constructs a photograph based on how they want it viewed. The aspect of storytelling and capturing a memory can still reside within a photo, of course. However, have we strayed from how much truth a photo conveys. Does cutting your boyfriend out of a polaroid really get rid of the original memory of that picture. A fictional (nonetheless entertaining) example comes from the 1980's film Back to the Future. (Beware of spoilers) When Marty McFly begins to fade in the photograph of him and his siblings, he also begins fading in real life. It would leave the photo void of people and star an old well. Am I really supposed to believe that no one will look at that photo and think there is something missing? There is no sense of emptiness to the viewer? No. Do not give me that malarkey! Just as a person closely inspects a UFO photo for authenticity, I would like to believe people will look at the McFly photo and connect the pieces together. With close conveying photography is mixed with the feeling of mistrust. If everyone begins to question what it is they see. Is it trustworthy or manipulated? While we certainly trust a photograph to tell a story, can we trust the authenticity of that photo. Is there really a spirit in the woods or is it just a fog machine behind the bushes. It becomes hard to distinguish reality from fantasy, which seems scarier than accidentally misquoting a man who lived two hundred years ago. Apps like FaceTune and Photoshop can be used to alter a human being. People can now alter their faces to look how they want for a social media post. Even filters on apps like Snapchat enlarge the eyes or get rid of blemishes on the skin. People can get so used to seeing their faces this way and find they look too different without a filter, even to the point of getting plastic surgery to "fix it." While photography may not be as truthful as we'd like, that shouldn't take away its beauty or value. There is no shame in taking a photo of a house and slapping a black and white filter over it. Art is a form of expression, truthful or not. People should just be more careful of what they choose to believe in when looking at a photograph. Sara Garner “You can only complain so long. You complain, or you stop, or you do something. If you're not going to do anything about it, then shut up.” - Rebecca Marino Rebecca Marino is the current Associate Director of the Texas State University Galleries. She has been everything from a curator, to an artist, to even a writer. She graduated from St. Edwards in 2010 with a degree in photo communication with a minor in art history (first in St. Edward's history to get a minor in art history!). As an artist, she has displayed and focused on an interest in cosmology and NASA. Some of this work has focused on the cosmic perspective of life and relating the world around us with comparisons to our universe. She has also worked on pieces concerning motherhood and NASA and the human quality and intimacy within the administration. Another project, The Best Available Evidence, deals with UFOs and close enocunters and dicusses the cynicism and belief dealing with the documentation of extraterrestrials and sightings. With experience from multiple internships while in college, she began working at Pump Project in Austin and became the gallery director. She has also worked and volunteered at Art House and Flex Space. In 2015 she began Conflict of Interest, a visual art and literary publication. One major part of Marino’s lecture was the urgency of reviving and maintaining the Austin art scene. The art community in Austin is very small and very temporary because galleries are being sold by the owners. This causes artists to try to seek larger, and more popular art scenes elsewhere. The lack of arts writers also leads to the Austin art community having no archive of works that are created there. Marino wanted to fix this with her publication, Conflict of Interest. The main goals were to create an archive of everything ‘art’ happening and bridge the gaps between the creative communities of Austin. The publication would let their audience know of all of the breaking news and art shows going on in real-time to help spread the word about what was currently going on in Austin. Soon books were released that showed everything that they had worked on every year. In 2018 the project had ended and Marino had integrated the art communities. What resonates from Marino’s lecture the most is how she witnessed and was part of what was and still is going on with the Austin art scene and community and instead of just sitting back and complaining about it, she set out and work tremendously hard to contribute her part of fixing the problem. What we should take away from her example is that with hard work and perseverance, we too can contribute to the revitalization and preservation of the art scene and its future history. We may not need to create amazing publications or own some fantastic gallery to do this, but if we just contributed to creating the dialogue between us and others that may not be as informed about the amazing art presence in Austin, we can help it get a step in the right direction. Laney Moreno
Megan Lowry |
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