Highlights include recent acquisitions Drop Me Off in Harlem by David Shrobe, Man on Fire by Alejandro Macias, and …Run as fast as you will, escape if you can, you are the quarry, fate is the hunter… by Karlito Miller Espinosa.
Although made by different individuals with unique experiences, many of the artists in the Contemporary Gallery use their work as a means to memorialize histories and comment on important topics of our world.
Hung Liu’s Still Life, made in the years following the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, depicts a young man on a hunger strike seated before a panel of soldiers. Robert Colescott's Beauty Is Only Skin Deep uses satire to contend with the history of race and gender in American society.
Several of the works speak to dynamics unique to the Southwest. Karlito Miller Espinosa's …Run as fast as you will, escape if you can, you are the quarry, fate is the hunter… critiques the relationship between extractive industries and capitalism. Alejandro Macias' Man on Fire serves as a metaphor for his upbringing along the U.S.-Mexico border and was inspired by a sculpture by Luis Jimenez of the same name — also on view in the gallery.
Other artists featured in the Contemporary Art Gallery are Cristina Cardenas, Edgar Heap of Birds and Raphael Collazo.
All of the works in this gallery were purchased with funds provided by the Edward J. Gallagher, Jr. Memorial Fund.
