Exhibition on Display: March 3 - April 29, 2023 | Works by Gil Rocha and Cande Aguilar
EXHIBITION STATEMENT
CTRL+X is the keyboard shortcut for "cut." In this exhibit, CTRL+X represents artwork
with a "rasquache," or DIY aesthetic, common in border, Mexican-American or Chicano
working-class communities. The artworks are composed of often scavenged materials and
concepts taken from cultural representations of ordinary, everyday objects and people.
The artists in this joint exhibition, Gil Rocha and Cande Aguilar, are native to south
Texas and have exhibited their artwork widely on the national and international level.
Rocha and Aguilar create artworks that give the impression of being improvised, implying
an almost-uncomposed (or descompuesto) resolution.
"Both Rocha and Aguilar work in a similar way. They use the information they soak up
from living on the border to guide them to create unique, culturally rich assemblages,
paintings, sculptures, and media works. They cut directly from their cultural landscapes.
They experiment with media and materials to make bold statements. They repurpose and
reframe to compose visual works that invite the viewers to open up to unexpected
conversations with their use of humor, play on words and color," said Bautista.
Join the artists for an artist talk at 6 PM during the opening reception to learn more
about their creative process and ideas surrounding their practice.
GIL ROCHA, ARTIST
Gil Rocha is a south Texas artist, educator, and curator born and raised in Laredo. He
earned a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2006). Rocha's artwork
expands across painting, collage, sculpture, installation, and writing. Most recently
his work was featured in two online magazines, PASSAGE Visions (Issue 6) and Maake
Magazine (Issue 11); in the collective exhibitions "Soy de Tejas" (San Antonio, 2023),
"Son de Allá, Son de Acá" (Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2022); and a joint show curated by
Susie Kalil at Kirk Hopper Fine Art Gallery (2022). His artwork was also exhibited in
"Icons and Symbols of the Borderlands" (2018), the "Trans-Border Biennial" in El Paso
Museum of Art and El Museo de Arte in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico (2018), and the Texas
Biennial in Austin (2017). Rocha has curated numerous exhibitions including "The Border
is a Weapon" which is scheduled to travel to Syracuse, New York in the fall. This year,
Rocha is the Curator for the 2023 Contemporary Art Perennial in San Antonio and will be
featured in the second volume of the book "Texas Artists Today."
CANDE AGUILAR, ARTIST
Cande Aguilar is a mid-career contemporary, self-taught visual artist and musician who
grew up in Brownsville, Texas. From an early age he learned to play the accordion. The
journey and lifestyle as a Conjunto Tejano musician was his doorway into the arts. He
is known for his barrioPOP aesthetic, an amalgamation sprung by characters, colors and
street phenomena, that allows him to follow a tradition that border people share of
making things in a rasquache kind of way. Aguilar has had solo exhibitions at Brownsville
Museum of Fine Art (2001-2020), International Museum of Arts & Science (2009), McNay
Art Museum (2018), Presa House Gallery (2018), 81 Leonard Gallery (2020), and Grayduck
Gallery (2021). His work has been included in group exhibitions at K-Space Contemporary
(2019), Wichita Falls Museum of Art (2009), MACLA Museum (2012), Alexandria Museum of
Art (2012), Painting Center (2015), 500X Gallery (2017), Boecker Contemporary in
Heidelberg, Germany (2017), La Laguna, Tenerife in Spain (2017), and Studio Apothiki,
Paphos, Cyprus (2015). Aguilar's work was included in the 2017 Texas Biennial in Austin.
Most Recently, his work was acquired by The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art (2022)
and was included in the inaugural exhibition "Cheech Collects" (2022-2023).
MARITZA BAUTISTA, CURATOR
MaritzaBautista is a Tex-Mex/pocha multi-disciplinary artist, educator, and cultural
worker from Laredo, Texas. She received a Master of Arts in Art Education from the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2009). Her work has been screened at Cinema
Verde (2023), Señorita Cinema (2022), iFFY: Independent Film Festival Ypsilanti (2022),
MIRAAA Media Fest (2021), San Antonio Film Festival (2019), and Cine Las Americas
International Film Festival (2015). Her work has been screened and presented at the
NCA 108th Annual Convention: Honoring PLACE: People, Liberation, Advocacy, Community,
and Environment (2022), the Creating Justice Symposium (2022) and the Sixth Biennial
Inter-American Studies Conference Walls, Bridges, Borders (2021). In 2022 she
participated in the collective exhibitions Disparate Inclinations (Laredo), Desde La
Frontera (All the way from the border in San Antonio), The Border is a Weapon / La
Frontera es un Arma (Pittsburgh, PA), and was featured in the online art magazine
PASSAGE Visions (Issue 8). Maritza sustains meaningful, collaborative art practices
that explore and create a dialectic milieu inhabited by issues unique to marginalized
communities. She uses and experiments with text, video, sound and performance to explore
scavenging, movement and transportation as they relate to wealth along and across the
U.S./Mexico border. She is interested in the economic disparities that are visible and
at times ironic and the survival mechanisms of working class people. Maritza is the
Executive Director at Daphne Art Foundation. She is driven by her passion to create
space for art so that it becomes accessible and is used as a tool for transformative
social justice.
ENRICHING THE COMMUNITY THROUGH ART
Part of the mission of Arts Fort Worth is to provide a quality event, visual and
performing arts venue for all of the community. This historic and dynamic arts complex
boasts seven indoor galleries, an outdoor gallery, artist and performance studios, and
office suites for nonprofit arts organizations and is managed by Arts Fort Worth on
behalf of the City of Fort Worth.
Arts Fort Worth also provides educational programming, promotes experienced and emerging
artists. The three theater spaces hosts a wide-range of performances by local and
nationally known artists and organizations- the Hardy and Betty Sanders black box theater,
the traditional William Edrington Scott Theatre, and The Vault, which hosts Fort Worth
Fringe acts.
HISTORY
Located at 1300 Gendy Street, Fort Worth Community Arts Center is part of the most
architecturally significant museum districts in the United States. The striking modern
Herbert Bayer building (with a later O'Neil Ford addition) opened to the public in 1954
as home to one of the most prestigious and oldest collecting organizations in the state
of Texas, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. When, in 2002, the Modern moved down the
street, the Fort Worth Community Arts Center opened. The building continues to exhibit
world class art and support the performing arts for more than half a century.
LOOKING FOR A UNIQUE SPACE FOR YOUR EVENT?
Arts Fort Worth provides versatile spaces to meet a variety of rental needs. Whether you
require well-lit exhibition areas, unique rooms for meetings, special events, or the
comforts of an accessible, professional-quality performance venue has a space that fits
your needs. This dynamic arts complex includes the black box Hardy and Betty Sanders
Theatre, the William Edrington Scott Theatre, seven galleries, and studio and office spaces,
including a conference room overlooking the Cultural District towards downtown. These
spaces are adaptable to a wide range of uses, including conventions, special events,
weddings, workshops, and theater productions. If you're interested in more details contact
us!
