Everyone is an Alienígeno: Enrique Chagoya
Wasmer Art Gallery
October 17 - November 14, 2019
Opening Reception and Artist Talk - Thursday, October 17, 5-7pm
“I believe that everybody is an alien. I think that we all come from somewhere else. Nobody is pure ethnically. Those times are gone. Maybe there was never any purity in human history in terms of ethnicity because we are all part of the same genome. Recently I searched for my own DNA history through one of the services. I’m 38% Native American from Central Mexico, 28% Iberian or Southern European, probably from Spain, and the remaining 44% includes forebearers who were Ashkenazi Jews, Middle Eastern Arabs, as well as others from North African and Asia. My ancestors were promiscuous. They traveled and mixed with other ethnic groups.” - Enrique Chagoya
“Those who win the wars write history; that includes the Aztecs who burnt books of cultures they conquered. History written by the victors is an ideological construction more than a science. So I decided that as an artist I have the right to make my own construction of history, not necessarily ideological but by using artistic license to construct a narrative, with humor and a more contemporary feel, that is different from the dominant history. I began to do my codices based on the history I learnt and I pretended to be an indigenous artist who traveled through time making codices and creating similar visual language.” - Enrique Chagoya
Enrique Chagoya is world renowned as a political and social justice artist tackling issues of borders, immigration and cultural conflicts. This will be the first ever survey exhibition of Enrique Chagoya’s work in Florida covering his political and social activism through his innovative prints and paintings.
Using pop culture icons, current events and historical images, Chagoya creates layered narratives dealing with immigration and cultural identity as a basis for social reflection. Born in Mexico City, Chagoya immigrated to the United States in 1977, where he worked as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, and became an American citizen in 2000.
He is currently Full Professor at Stanford University’s department of Art and Art
History and his work can be found in many public collections including the Museum
of Modern Art in New York, the Metropolitan Museum, the Whitney Museum of American
Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
among others. He has been the recipient of numerous awards such as two NEA artists
fellowships, one more from the National Academy of Arts and Letters in New York, residencies
at Giverny and Cite Internationale des Arts in France, and a Tiffany fellowship to
mention a few.
Chagoya is represented by Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco, George Adams Gallery
in New York, and Lisa Sette Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ. His prints are published by
Shark’s Ink in Lyons, Co, Electric Works in San Francisco, CA, Magnolia Editions in
Oakland, CA, ULAE Bay Shore, NY, Segura Publishing in Pueblo, AZ, Trillium press in
Brisbaine, CA, Made in California in Oakland, CA, and Smith Andersen Editions in Palo
Alto, CA.
Sponsored by Gene and Lee Seidler, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and WGCU Public Media
Image credit, top to bottom:
Enrique Chagoya, Everyone is an Alienígeno, 2018. Color lithograph with collage, Ed. 30, 22 x 30 in. ©Enrique Chagoya 2018,
Photo credit: Bud Shark
Enrique Chagoya, Aliens Sans Frontiéres, 2016, Color lithograph on handmade Amate paper, Ed. 30, 24 x 28 in. ©Enrique Chagoya 2016
Enrique Chagoya, The Ghost of Liberty, 2004, Color lithograph/chine collé, Ed. 30, 11.5 x 85 in. ©Enrique Chagoya 2004
