Curated by Alana Coates
June 7 - August 4, 2017
Opening Reception: Wednesday, June 7, 6:00 - 8:00pm
Artist Talk: Monday, July 17, 12:00pm
The University of Texas at San Antonio is pleased to announce an exciting group exhibition highlighting the works of Peter Saul, John Hernandez, Megan Solis, and Louie Chavez, guest curated by UTSA Alum, Alana Coates. The exhibition will have an artist reception and open to the public on Wednesday, June 7th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. And an artist talk will be held on Monday, July 17, 2017 at noon with Megan Solis and Louie Chavez in attendance.
Peter Saul is an internationally acclaimed artist who rose to fame with a strong counterculture aesthetic and a wild politically-incorrect figurative practice. Although, Saul is typically associated with the Hairy Who & the Chicago Imagists, he never actually lived in Chicago but he had only frequently exhibited there. The artist did however, live in Texas from 1981 – 2000 while he taught at The University of Texas at Austin.
Although Saul lived in Texas for nearly two decades, he is not often associated with the state. While teaching in Austin, the artist had gallery representation in San Antonio at a gallery that operated in the Blue Star Complex in the 90s. Through connections with the city, Saul has greatly influenced San Antonio artists. Now in his eighties and currently residing in New York, Saul has managed to inspire multiple generations of artists, locally and around the world.
John Hernandez, a San Antonio native, was one local artist who came in contact with Saul’s work when it was exhibited in San Antonio. Hernandez said he was so excited when he discovered Saul’s paintings because he connected his style to his own. Hernandez and Saul clearly share a preference for lurid colors and eccentric sometimes outlandish subjects.
Fast forward a few generations later and younger artists today are still enthralled with Saul’s practice, including Megan Solis and Louie Chavez, two emerging artists who also run against the grain. Unfortunately, the artists in San Antonio today are no longer privy to viewing the works of Saul in person, but rather learn about his works through the internet and books. However, with much gratitude, this exhibition is assembled with the generous loan of a great San Antonio art collector, Joe Diaz, who collected Saul’s artworks during his Texas tenure.
United with a contrarian aesthetic, this exhibit brings together four intergenerational artists Megan Solis (b.1990), Louie Chavez (b.1979), John A. Hernandez (b.1952), and Peter Saul (b.1934) to explore artistic inspirations within similar sensibilities, specifically with an appreciation of ‘lowbrow’ imagery, critiques of popular culture, and conflicts with inner-self that are presented with brash colors and the unexpected.
About the Artists
Megan Solis earned a BFA with a concentration in painting from The University of Texas at San Antonio. She is a multimedia artist with experience in easel, mural, and performance painting; as well as, animation, fashion, and sculpture. She completed a month-long residency at the Arteles Artist Center in Finland and earned much positive recognition from a solo-exhibition at Hello Studio last summer, Christina is a Coward. Solis has an upcoming exhibition at the McNay Museum this fall as part of their Artist-looking-at-Art series. This exhibition presents new works by Solis which focus on the visceral using very tactile and untraditional materials. Furthermore, she pushes the boundaries of reality and fantasy through escapism and a new character she developed, Charlie.
Louie Chavez is a multidisciplinary artist who has worked in performance painting, sculpture, handcrafted toys, and light installations. He has had solo-exhibitions at Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn, Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin (the inaugural “Changarrito”), and Silkworm Studio in San Antonio and he has been commissioned for mural projects by businesses and organizations across Texas including Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin. Chavez presents a new body of work for this exhibition in which he layers internet obsessions and meme culture with lurid colors and fantasy creatures.
John Hernandez received his M.F.A. from the University of North Texas in Denton. He was an Artpace artist-in-residence in 2000 selected by panelists including Dan Cameron and Hans Ulrich Obrist and he has also been recognized with awards such as fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Mid-America Arts Alliance. He has exhibited his work throughout the United States and Europe, and in 2016, The University of Texas at Arlington organized a 40-year retrospective of his work, Whew…That’s a Relief! curated by Benito Huerta.
Peter Saul was born in San Francisco, California and studied at the California School of Arts and Washington University in St. Louis. Dan Cameron organized a traveling retrospective of Saul’s work in 2008 at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, CA that later traveled to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA, and the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA. In 2012, Saul had his first solo show at the prestigious Mary Boone Gallery in New York where he is now represented. He is in a number of major collections including the Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
About the Curator
Alana Coates is an art historian and independent curator. An alum of the University of Texas at San Antonio, she earned a master’s degree in art history along with a graduate certificate in nonprofit administration and leadership in 2012. Coates has been working in the creative sector for over 15 years, holding positions at a number of reputable organizations and she is currently the associate director at Ruiz-Healy Art.
Article in the SA Current: ‘Daydreams and Other Monsters’ Finds Humor in Dark Places’
Glasstire Review: 'Daydreams and Other Monsters' at UTSA
Article in the San Antonio Express News: Pop Art Exhibit at UTSA Delights and Disturbs
Article in UTSA Today: Art exhibition curated by UTSA alumna will attract art lovers new and old
