so…I plan to stay focused on making and exhibiting work this summer. No lectures, no workshops. Choosing…to wear my studio artist mask…that’s all-right for now.
La Persona, mm media intaglio print, 2009
I mentioned the traveling exhibition Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement will be on view at the Phoenix Art Museum. The opening party is scheduled for Saturday, July 11. And opens to the public on July 12th. From soft sculpture full-size cars made from colorful vinyl to photographs of a break dancing performance on a flat floor sculpture by Minimalist artist Carl Andre, Phantom Sightings explores the experimental tendencies of a younger generation of contemporary American artists with cultural ties to Mexico and Latin America. The works included in the exhibition are orientated less toward traditional media such as painting and sculpture, and more toward conceptual art, performance, photography, media-based art and “stealthy” artistic interventions in urban spaces.
Sara Cochran plans a local component to run in conjunction with this main exhibition, titled 602/480/623: Locals Only. She has visited studios and has chosen 10 area artists and their works. Five of my mixed media prints will be presented. As well as the works of 9 other artists including Annie Lopez, Melissa Martinez, Hector Ruiz, and Martin Moreno. For those of you that might not know, the numbers 602/480/623 are area phone prefixes. This local component is not meant to be in response to the main exhibit. It is meant to run concurrently so as to provide an interesting context in which the work can be experienced.
My series of intaglio prints that will be on view are all new works. They are hand painted, include text, and in some cases are altered with collage. Materials include ink, casein, egg tempera, graphite and crayon. They are small, intimate self-portraits that concern themselves with the complexities of being human, being female, being American of Mexican ancestry, being a physical body and having a busy mind (that prefers to be quiet). Most especially, the prints deal with being a creative spirit who questions experiences, perceptions and beliefs…my own and others. I do so with some philosophical ease and visual humor. I want to incite others to do the same. As usual the work is inspired by the basic questions I move thru life asking …Who am I? What am I? What is this world? And what is my relationship to it?
Monica Aissa Martinez 