If you’re looking to break free from routine, San Antonio’s art scene offers plenty of entertainment and discovery in July. Artist Jose Villalobos delves into the trucking subculture and deconstructs the notion of masculinity it contains at FL!GHT Gallery. Guadalupe Hernandez weaves family stories connecting her past in her figurative oil paintings at Presa House. Admire abstract works made of crayons, fabrics, sand, crushed stone, and glass beads at Ruiz-Healy Art, and experience the whimsy of “Wonderful Old Women” as life-size oil paintings from the artist Gabbe Grodin and his students at Bihl Haus Arts. Keep the heat at bay and let the arts invigorate and refresh you this month.
FL!GHT Gallery at Blue Star
“Jose Villalobos: Trokiando” – Until July 31
“Trokiando” is a new body of work that examines the toxic masculinity within truck culture within the Latinx community. Car culture has played a part in Mexican-American community life since the 1940s when lowrider culture emerged. Over time, a new subculture was born known as Trokiando, a derivative of the word Troka, a Spanglish term created to describe a truck. Through the artist’s personal connection to his father, who was an auto mechanic, Villalobos delves into the automotive subculture and deconstructs the notion of masculinity within it. Using automotive parts and accessories, he creates a dialogue about how an object can generate dynamics of power, masculinity and homophobia.
Presa House
“Guadalupe Hernandez: Recuerdos Vividos” – Until July 29
Guadalupe Hernandez is a Houston-based multidisciplinary artist who, despite moving to the United States, has maintained a deep connection to his Mexican heritage and customs through centuries-old family traditions. Hernandez’s practice examines her cultural identity by reinterpreting childhood memories and family stories connecting her past and providing greater meaning to her present. Through the use of photographic references accumulated over several years, tracing the markets, street scenes and people of his native country, Hernandez creates elaborate Papel Picado portraits and gestural brush figurative oil paintings.
Ruiz-Healy Art
“Gaby Collins Fernandez & Carlos Rosales-Silva: Applied Pressure” – Until August 20
“Applied Pressure” is a two-person solo exhibition featuring artists who cross paths in their experimental uses of color and texture to create abstract works that manipulate imagery. Collins-Fernandez presents a series of paintings and works on paper using materials such as pencil, digital photo collage and fabric. Rosales-Silva’s works are rooted in a practice of painting but often borrow from sculptural and installation practices through materials like sand, crushed stone and glass beads.
Caution
“Stefani Job Spears & Joseph Hammer: Reflections on Nature / Reflections on Humanity” – Through July 30
The two artists featured in this show seem at first glance to be polar opposites; they work in different media and have very different styles. But on closer inspection, it becomes clear that the artists are on parallel paths in reflecting nature and humanity in their work. Stefani Job Spears, teacher, innovator, and artist-in-residence at the Texas Commission for the Arts, uses a variety of mediums, including handmade paper and pastels, to reflect her love of nature. Joseph Hammer has always worked in the medium of collage and “found his voice” when he began to use old bound books in his works.
Bihl Haus Arts
“Gabbe Grodin: WOW: Wonderful Old Women” – Until July 30
“WOW” is a long-running show from GO! Gabbe Grodin, teacher at the higher arts center. This project is inspired by a book called “Wonderful Old Women”, a series of interviews conducted by Bonnie Lyons, in which thirteen women aged between 80 and 97 tell their stories, reflect on how they see themselves and journey of their life. In this visual version, Grodin shares 58 portraits on a single canvas and fourteen life-size oil paintings of his students showing us their paintings. The paintings and drawings of Grodin’s students will also share the spotlight in this exhibition.
Rojo Gallery and Studio
“Mo[u]ld: A Print Group Show” – Until August 13
What started as a portfolio exchange project between 19 local artists has turned into an exhibition for everyone to discover. month[u]ld is an engraving exhibition centered on a singular word with varied interpretations. Each artist worked from their own perspective and practice to create a work with Mo[u]ld in mind. The word can relate to many ideas: monotony, time, nature, decay, decay, death, sculpture, formation, reproduction, and mimicry, to name a few. With this thematic link, the prints exist tangentially, creating a dialogue between them and with their audience.
Carver Community Cultural Center
“San Antonio Street Art Initiative” – July 21 to September 1
SASAI is an artist-run, non-profit, independent charity and source for mural art and artist advocacy with over 60 murals completed in the San Antonio area in recent years. Comprised of leaders from the city’s diverse street art scene, the exhibition will include works that reflect the diversity of individual artists and the city.