Alchemy: Works on Paper: San Antonio

Known for art that is conceptually based and highly formal, Jesse Amado’s work is imbued by the symbolic power of image-making and its formal or stylistic potentialities. One of his recurring themes centers on a precise choice of materials that allow him to transform them into something entirely different, and always with the purpose of conveying the human experience.

Andrés Ferrandis is known for his evocative geometric abstract constructions redolent with the traces ofperception, what the artist calls “footprints left behind.” By implementing new media and materials, his work has moved outside the conventional limits of the stretcher, developing structurally and expanding into non-conventional, hybrid pieces and installations. His new constructions of objects and collage on paper utilize photography, fragments of text, and cut-paper organic and geometric forms that seem to drift and swirl through landscapes of memory.

Richard "Ricky" Armendariz' artistic and conceptual aesthetic is heavily influenced by growing up near the U.S./Mexico border. Greek and Mesoamerican mythology plays an important part in the artist’s exploration of the complex relationship between humans and animals. Armendariz enjoys playing with traits of human anatomy and identifying possible connections with characteristics found in animals that allow a deeper understanding of humanity.

Leigh Anne Lester’s work addresses the “place between the genesis of genetic modification and its after effects.” Her drawings are layers of semi-transparent drafting film with a historical botanical image drawn on each layer. The transparency of the drafting film allows the line of each botanical to optically blend with the next layer. Floating cells are layered with graphite drawings of separate distorted offspring plants with their color drained, implying a cellular, morphological struggle for resolution.

Ethel Shipton's practice is informed by a strong conceptual base and encompasses a variety of expressions. Through painting,installation, photography, and text, Shipton spotlights instants of clarity that flit by in the comings and goings of daily life. Past works have centered on ideas of urban scenes, language, and attempts to process information. Time is an important theme of her oeuvre as well as the perception of space. We can find references to time and images of time throughout her art practice. –Ethel Shipton

Jiménez’s oeuvre consists of various mediums that expose the concerns of Mexico’s social and political environment. The vibrant colors, rich detail and often the use of text, create a satiric voice that demands attention. “I consider myself a kind of postmodern Posada. I think that a good artist and a smart artist should  consider the good things that he can do or he can express. Talent is only half of it. There is another part, a darkside, an awareness of anxieties and obsessions.”–Cisco Jiménez

Martínez’s work reflects a broad knowledge of the western art canon and finds inspiration from color-field paintings, Mexican architecture, and photography. Martínez is drawn to the way in which Mexican American family photographs served as intimate, personal portraits, during a time when only white individuals or groups were being iconized in paintings. Martínez offsets his melancholic subjects against a vibrant palette of clothes in tension against abstract backgrounds. The individuals in Martínez’s works are merely hybrids derived and elaborated from many different photographs found in high school yearbooks,obituaries, newspapers, and other public sources.

Puerta creates mixed media sculptures, installations, collages, handmade-paper paintings and wall hangings by combining a wide range of materials, from artificial plants and paper pulp to found, personal and recycled objects. She states, “My work draws from my experience as a Colombian-American artist, examining the relationship between nature and the human-made, and engaging themes of food justice, xenophobia, hyper-consumerism, and ancestral knowledge.”–Lina Puerta