STC Pecan Library Gallery features renowned Chicano artist Alex Rubio

Pecan Campus
October 23 – December 12, 2008

“Pura Raspa,” an acrylic on canvas by Alex Rubio.

South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery, is proud to present “San Anto,” an exhibit featuring artworks by renowned Chicano artist Alex Rubio. Also on display are artworks by Bianca Argüellez and Juan Mora, artist interns from Blue Star Contemporary Art Center.

The exhibit opens Thursday, Oct. 23 with an artist lecture at 6 p.m. in STC’s Pecan Campus Building D Auditorium, and a reception immediately following at 7 p.m. in the Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery. The exhibit runs through Friday, Dec. 12. STC’s Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery is located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. Admission is free and open to the public.

The “San Anto” exhibit includes acrylic and oil on canvas paintings, graphite on paper drawings and lithograph, serigraph, linocut, and woodcut prints from Rubio’s “Westside Series.” The works offer visual narratives of Rubio’s life experiences as a Latino growing up in a west side San Antonio neighborhood housing project, or barrio community.

“I continue to illustrate and describe past and present life here in the west side of San Antonio, documenting both cultural and personal experiences in my drawings and paintings,” said Rubio. “I utilize iconic images in an effort to preserve the cultural bond that connects and promotes inter-generational dialogue within and beyond our Chicano communities.”

Rubio’s work focuses on large-scale drawing and painting, mural composition, community outreach, and youth arts education. He is currently the studio manager and art instructor for the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center and mentor for the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center Artist Internship Program.

Today Rubio’s works can be found in the Cheech Marin collection of Chicano art. He is also a recipient of the prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation Artist Grant, as well as the Artpace Foundation Residency Grant. He has exhibited his work at The McNay Museum of Art, The San Antonio Museum of Art, Artpace Foundation, Blue Star Contemporary Art Gallery, and the Smithsonian Museo Alameda, to name a few.

“Rubio is a San Antonio icon of Chicano socio/politico style, both urban and personal. He is the standard of measure in regard to the nuclear-neon color and pulsating brush strokes that characterize his murals and extra, extra large size paintings” said David Freeman, curator and programs coordinator for STC’s Library Art Gallery Program. “His multi-tasking ability of embracing, modifying and documenting his environment makes genuine his vision in such a stark manner that we can’t help but identify all he creates as poignant reality in a world full of Hollywood deceit and distractions. Rubio is the empirical order of community awareness and outreach through art as bearing witness to truth.”

The South Texas College Library Art Gallery program exhibits regional, national and international artwork, explores new visions and theories of creativity, and introduces innovative artistic expressions to the South Texas region.

For more information call 872-3488, email libraryart@southtexascollege.edu or visit www.southtexascollege.edu/libraryart.