Tag Archive for: Free

Lucha Libre: Beyond the Arenas

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“Lucha Libre: Beyond the Arenas” opens on Oct. 29, 2022 and is on view through May 7, 2023. Senior Curator Julio Cesar Morales, Mexico City-based independent curator Fernanda Ramos and  Consulting Curator Sharon Gesund are organizing this groundbreaking exhibition, which features painting, photography and mixed media artworks by internationally recognized Mexican and Chicanx contemporary artists along with collectors’ items, film posters and other memorabilia from some of the sport’s most famous wrestlers. This first exhibition of its kind, “Lucha Libre,” goes beyond its popularity in contemporary culture to reveal the sports’ ancient roots, explore its influence on socio-political movements and link its relationships to the visual culture of Mexico and beyond. In this exhibition, the phenomenon of Lucha Libre transcends the glitz and glamor of the theatrical stage to become a way to investigate themes of the underdog and the hero, identity and performance, and collective resistance to authority.

The exhibition at ASU Art Museum offers all visitors—from those who grew up loving the sport to audiences discovering it for the first time—an opportunity to view and understand Lucha Libre through the lenses of popular culture, poetics and politics. This exhibition is a vehicle to appreciate and deepen our knowledge of Mexican and Mexican-American culture, which has been historically underrepresented in art museums.

“Lucha Libre: Beyond the Arenas” is supported by Cloth & Flame, Rich and Sally Lehmann, Friends of Mexican Art, RDA Consulting, Chuy Rodriguez, Maria Borja, Jesus Rodriguez, Expo Museo Lucha Libre/Christian Cymet Collection and Christie’s Mexico. Additional exhibition and programmatic support is made possible by our Creative Impact Board, Directors’ Council, Innovation Council and the Windgate Foundation.

lucha libre

Making Visible

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“Making Visible” features artworks from ASU Art Museum’s permanent collections and examines how these objects perpetuate and fortify mythologies of the American West. With over 90% of the Museum’s 13,000+ objects entering the collection as gifts, this exhibition questions how the perspective of donors reflects specific tastes and fantasies about the Southwest. Further, it explores how museums create cultural narratives based on available objects without considering what is missing. Centering people and their stories, the exhibition seeks to redress and restore the archival silences and gaps in the museum’s collections by interrogating how racism, sexism, settler colonialism and other exclusionary practices produced a collection that centers Eurocentricity.

“Making Visible” is organized in collaboration with a community of advisors composed of activists, scholars and artists that lend important and yet historically excluded cultural perspectives. The museum worked with NY-based artist Miguel Luciano to develop the exhibition design, audience experience and public programs along with Amelia Hay, learning and co-creation specialist. In addition, they commissioned Jacob Meders, local artist and member of the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria, to write labels looking critically at several of the historical artworks in the exhibition. The curatorial team includes Julio César Morales, senior curator; Mary-Beth Buesgen, curator of collections and archives; Brittany Corrales, curator; Ninabah Winton, Windgate assistant curator of contemporary craft and design fellow and Abby Sutton, Windgate curatorial assistant.

“Making Visible” is sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art with generous support from the ASU Art Museum Boards and Councils.

A pattern, a trace, a portrait: Four Artists from CALA Alliance’s Residency Program

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“A pattern, a trace, a portrait: Four Artists from CALA Alliance’s Residency Program” showcases new and existing work by Carolina Aranibar-Fernández, Diana Calderón, Estrella Esquilín and Sam Frésquez. These regional Latinx artists each present discrete installations that weave together universal themes of memory, loss and grief while highlighting issues related to place and the destruction of our natural environment. A pattern, a trace, a portrait highlights the dichotomy between the most intimate histories and the most global concerns.

This exhibition showcases, in part, a partnership between CALA Alliance and ASU Art Museum. CALA Alliance (Celebración Artística de las Américas) is a Latinx arts organization based in Phoenix. CALA Alliance collaborates with artists and arts organizations to nurture artistic talent, focusing on artists from the Latin American diaspora. The organization advances its mission through innovative artist residencies, artist commissions, community workshops, and public programming that position the Metro Phoenix region as a fruitful site that acknowledges and contributes to the promotion of Latinx art throughout the United States.

CALA Alliance and ASU Art Museum work in partnership to achieve their common mission of incubating and accelerating the presence of Latinx art in the United States. Together CALA Alliance and ASUAM promote the exchange of new ideas, perspectives, and experiences among artists, students, and the public through various programs, especially those that educate and inspire the public about the richness of the Latinx cultural heritage.

Opportunity (reflection)

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World-renowned artist Hank Willis Thomas unveiled this monumental 10-foot tall stainless steel sculpture during Super Bowl LVII, Arizona 2023 where it was installed in the iconic Super Bowl Experience at the Phoenix Convention Center and then in the Great Lawn outside the State Farm Stadium during Super Bowl LVII. Capturing the essence of Thomas’ artistic practice, this latest sculpture draws from his 2015 sculpture “Opportunity,” which was inspired by the NFL, and as part of his interest in photographic history, popular culture, and sports as a metaphor for individual and collective struggle or hope. “Hank’s powerful sculpture showcased during Super Bowl week beautifully represents the passion, strength, and hope at the heart of our game,” said Peter O’Reilly, NFL Executive Vice President of Club Business & League Events.

The artwork falls within Thomas’ “Punctum” series, which is based on Roland Barthes’ photographic theory of the punctum referring to the detail in an image that pierces or wounds the viewer, creating a direct relationship between them and the pictured object or person. Thomas uses this concept to select or reframe areas of images, which he then transforms into large-scale sculptures. “Opportunity (reflection)” portrays a snapshot of an anonymous player whose arm extends outward to catch the football. The viewer is reflected back in the mirrored surface and invited to imagine these tense few moments, filled with great anticipation, the successful catch leading to success and celebration, as well as loss and defeat for the opposing team.