Postmodern Latino Art Featured at The Centro de Artes

The Centro de Artes, located in San Antonio’s Market Square, recently opened its new exhibition titled “A Postmodernist Says ¿Qué?” that brings together Latino artists exploring identity through humor across a range of mediums. Curator Vikky Jones told Texas Public Radio that the exhibit includes collages, sculptures, ceramics, and installations.” Jones added, “The show uses humor to open conversations and offer new perspectives on issues that aren’t always easy to discuss.”

Ricky Armendariz, “Last Ride of Juan Diego o [I left my corazon in Mexico].” Courtesy of the Centro de Artes.

I have followed post-modern art for some time, but I did additional research to see how this topic applied to Latino art. Post-modernism emerged in the late 20th century as a reaction against the rules and certainty of modern art. Post-modernists argued that art can be many things. The Tate Modern in London, one of my favorite museums in the world, defines the post-modern as “associated with scepticism, irony, and philosophical critiques of the concepts of universal truths and objective reality.” The definition I particularly liked described post-modern art as an art movement that “tends to favor irony, mixing styles, quotation, pastiche, and questioning the idea that art must have one ‘correct’ meaning.” The artists in the Centro de Arte exhibit all met this criterion.

Ivanna Bass Caldera of NPR commented that in the Centro de Artes exhibit, “Not all of the pieces featured in the exhibition were necessarily connected to Latino humor. In post-modern art, the viewers are known to have different interpretations. As one example, Nain Leon displayed a series of photographs depicting Whataburger fries and condiments as larger-than-life atop Monahans Sandhills State Park.” Curatlor Vikky Jones added that this Postmodern “takes on funny,” gathering “artists with a range of humor stemming from the Latinx and Chicanx point of view.” Jones added that “because there are so many types of humor, it is a dynamic way for people to relate, and I hope that the audience will appreciate the sensibilities, parodies, caricatures, observations, and nuances of these artists.”

A view of Juan de Dios Mora’s 3D sculpture. Courtesy of the Centro de Artes.

The Centro de Artes exhibit encourages a humorous perspective, and medical researchers have found that humor improves coping, builds resilience, and helps interrupt negative thought patterns. Sharing humor with others can ease tension, deepen relationships, and enhance communication and support. Research highlighted by the Mayo Clinic and Mental Health America shows that humor can also reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, improve self-esteem and social skills, and activate the brain’s reward system.

Raul Rene Gonzalez, “Cecelia Discovers Life in Another Galaxy.” Courtesy of the Centro de Artes. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

There are 35 artists in the Centro “A Postmodernist Says ¿Qué?” exhibit. One of the most well-known is Rubio. Over the past two decades, Rubio has emerged as one of San Antonio’s most prominent postmodern artists. Born in San Antonio’s Westside, his art contributions and mentorship to young artists date back four decades.

I first learned about Rubio in the early 1980s when he joined the mural arts team at the Community Arts Program at Cassiano Homes. Over one summer in the mid-1980s, Rubio, as a lead muralist, was assigned an art apprentice, Vicent Valdez, who is today one of America’s best known Latino artists. At the time, I was preparing a slide show on Texas murals for the Institute of Texan Cultures [ITC]. The slideshow “Mural Art in Texas” included over 500 slides and at least 50 images of the San Antonio Cassiano Homes murals, several of which were completed by Rubio. The “Mural Art in Texas” slideshow was shown daily on the ITC Rotunda for more than 25 years.

Héctor Garza, “Chamuscado.” Courtesy of the Centro de Artes. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

Rubio’s style is often described as bright, energetic, and rooted in the tradition of Latino barrio art, with strong curving line work and mural-scale composition. He also founded and managed spaces for emerging artists in San Antonio, including R Space and Rubio Gallery-South. In 2007, Rubio received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant. He has had work shown in regional and national exhibitions. His public art includes pieces for San Pedro Creek Culture Park and San Antonio’s civic and cultural programming.

Rubio, “Cervesa Xtra.” Courtesy of the Centro de Artes.

Rubio’s notable works include Aqua (San Pedro Creek Culture Park, 2018), a long, wavy, blue‑toned mural on ceramic tile, 7 × 47 feet, that evokes the flow of San Pedro Creek and its role in sustaining San Antonio’s Latino communities. East of downtown San Antonio, Rubio contributed to the Vortex, a large‑scale mural that he conceived and executed with youth artists in Blue Star’s MOSAIC program. The Vortex mural was later preserved and restored as part of the San Anto Cultural Arts’ Mural Preservation Initiative.

One of Rubio’s paintings in the Centro exhibit is titled “El Rob.” There is definite humor in this Rubio painting, beginning with the crooked and deformed facial features of “El Rob” and his long golden goatee. Some might consider the figure grotesque. The eyeballs are profoundly large, as is the elongated tongue, which hangs largely outside of the mouth with a jewelry barbell, one of the many objects of body-piercing jewelry on Rob’s face. “El Rob” sits in front of two different beers, one with the name “Borracho Beer” and the other labeled “Lit Beer,” placed on a small table.

Rubio, “El Rob.” Courtesy of the Centro de Artes.

Eva Marengo Sanchez’s presentation at the Centro “Third Date” is playful and light and reminds us that in stressful times—such as periods of burnout or isolation—finding moments of humor and joy can be especially beneficial. When we laugh, we are able to create psychological distance from problems, making challenges feel less overwhelming and easier to manage.

Sanchez has been featured in stories by Texas Public Radio and Texas Monthly. On her website, she explains that her paintings are carefully crafted with attention to detail, scale, and composition. “Each painting,” she adds, “represents themes in my life that tell a larger story about geography, identity, and culture.” Sanchez paints canvases in her studio, murals on tall buildings, and is a star in the Latina art scene.

Eva M. Sanchez, “Third Date.” Courtesy of the Centro de Artes.

In her “Third Date” painting, Sanchez includes bottles of beer and Coca-Cola in a plastic grocery bag. Particular food and drinks, Sanchez reminds us, “can transport and connect us with past and present, important events, and particular periods in our lives.” Food, especially Sanchez tells us, “is the way I express my family history, life in San Antonio, and contemporary Mexican-American culture.” Sanchez’s interest in objects’ ability to tell stories is central to her practice, and she thoughtfully selects and depicts personal, meaningful subjects.

In another section of the Centro exhibit, I encountered the work of Borderland and post-modern artist Ricky Armendariz, known for challenging traditional ideas about originality, beauty, and artistic authority and admired for his post-modern artistic humor.

Ricky Armendariz, “Last Ride of Juan Diego o [I left my corazon in Mexico].” Courtesy of the Centro de Artes.

Armendariz acknowledges a deep passion for Borderland culture and Chicano lifestyles. In the tradition of border art, he has a passion for cars and lowriders. His painting in the Centro exhibit, “Last Ride,” has all the characteristics of a barrio classic “cholo” ride. A bald American eagle dominates the passenger side of the lowrider car, flying high about the New Mexico/Texas mountain range where snakes and nopales abound, revealing Armendariz’s passion for nature and western landscapes. There is also a small rendering of the Virgin of Guadalupe with a kneeling devotee humerously suggesting that this is indeed a precarious ride.

Ricky Armendariz, Home studio. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

In Armendariz’s early works, the American landscape and the hybridization of Mexican, American, and Indigenous cultures informed much of the content of his work. His art has also included an abundant portrayal of birds, rabbits, bears, buffalo, and coyotes all representing the past and present of his life in the Texas-Mexico borderlands.

Ricky Armendariz, “Ya me voy a therapy.” Courtesy of the Centro de Artes.

In portraying migration’s apocalyptic movements, Armendariz substitutes nature’s four-legged animals and birds, bees, and butterflies as representatives of human migrants. He assigns animal-human symbolism and connectivity to affix human cultures across time. In his own words, Armendariz affirms that many works are “tied to our current state of the border, the exodus of people from one country to another, looking for a better life.”

Raul Rene Gonzalez, Self Portrait. Courtesy of the Centro de Artes.

In another painting, Raul Rene Gonzalez offers a self-portrait photograph with the colors of the American flag adorning his mustache, goatee, and large beard. The blue color of the flag background covers the left side of his beard with specks of white for stars. On the right side, his beard is painted red and white. One wonders if this is a statement of identity, of being Mexican American? There is also a second self-portrait of Gonzalez patiently looking at the tiny hands of his children, placing hair clips on his beard. The hair clips are colorful, and his passive observation of the process adds to the humor of the situation.

Raul Rene Gonzalez. Courtesy of the Centro de Artes.