“Parabolas Mexicanas: Paintings, Prints and Drawings by Bernardo González and Francisco Verástegui” opens Oct. 9 in the Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial.
The exhibition, which features more than 40 vibrant works by the two artists, will run through Feb. 8. A reception and gallery talk is set for Thursday, Oct. 30, 5-7 p.m., to be followed by an improvisational performance of poetry and percussion, both in the Nott.
“This exhibition is a wonderfully interdisciplinary endeavor,” said Rachel Seligman, director of the Mandeville and the show’s curator, “bringing together Union faculty and students from Modern Languages, Political Science, Religious Studies, Visual Arts and more.”
The work of both artists, she said, “is extremely rich in layers of Mexican cultural and art historical meaning and references, enabling it to open up dialogues about religion, colonialism, imperialism, violence, sexuality, stereotypes and a myriad of other contemporary issues.”
Seligman worked closely with the artists, as well as several Union College faculty and Victor González Sánchez, director of the Galeria Arte de Oaxaca, to bring the exhibit to Union.
Bernardo González lives and works in Mexico City. Born in 1973 in Guadalupe Hidalgo Etla in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, a region rich in artistic expression, he is “one of a handful of Mexican artists exploring and enriching Mexican religious artistic legacies,” said Daniel Mosquera, associate professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies (LACS).
“Straddling multiple spaces, cultures and cultural legacies – popular and baroque Mexico, pre-Hispanic and Spanish and Mexican Catholic traditions – Gonzalez offers a refreshing engagement with religious icons and their symbolic, social and political everydayness,” Mosquera added. “His work often explores and questions gender and sexual stereotypes and rigidly defined roles while employing and referring to the conventions of colonial religious art.”
González has exhibited at museums and universities throughout Mexico, at the University of Colorado, Denver, and other venues. His work is included in college, government and private collections.
Francisco Verástegui was born and raised in Mexico City in 1953. Largely self-taught, he works in a number of styles, from painterly to cartoon-like, and in a variety of media, including prints, paintings and collage.
“He has spent the last 25 years creating art that addresses oppression, poverty, war and pollution in a forceful and compelling, yet often humorous, manner,” said Tom Lobe, lecturer in political science. “His work speaks to the fundamental truths of the human condition.”
“Verástegui is passionate about speaking out; his activism permeates both his life and his art,” said Lori Marso, professor of political science. “From local issues to global politics, Verástegui uses his talents to expose injustice and hypocrisy.”
Verástegui lives and works in San Felipe del Agua, in northern Oaxaca. He has exhibited at museums and galleries throughout his native country and is represented in numerous international collections. His writings and artworks have been published in many journals and newspapers.
“Parabolas Mexicanas” is made possible, in part, through Community Art$Grants, funded through the State and Local Partnership Program of the New York State Council on the Arts and The Arts Center of the Capital Region. A bilingual, full-color catalogue will be available.
A number of other events are planned around the exhibit, including a film series co-sponsored by the Mandeville, LACS and the departments of History and Modern Languages and Literatures. For more information about the exhibit and related events, go to: www.union.edu/gallery.