Monday, May 7, 2012

Artist Lecture - Manuel Alfaro

On Thursday, May 3, Reno artist Jose Manuel Alfaro gave a lecture at the Church Fine Arts about his current exhibition titled “Death, Drugs and La Linea” showing in the Sheppard Gallery. Alfaro is a Mexican-American artist who works in the theme of Chicano political art. He is mostly inspired by three types of artwork, including ancient Aztec art, Muralist, and Chicano Muralist. Alfaro compares the ancient Aztecs to current Narco culture of Mexico. In both cultures, violence is prominent and they have a preoccupation with warfare, expansion of territories, agriculture, and domination over others. The cartels today see themselves as Aztec warriors, and glorify death and the killing of others in their culture. To Alfaro, his art is a way of illuminating the problem of drug cartels and corruption in Mexico that many people are unaware of. He believes that his art can bring forth social issues and can have an impact on people who see his art. In contrast, Alfaro also showed a mural he painted at Lincoln Park Elementary School. This mural showed a young girl on the far left side, and as you moved right the painting progressed through the stages of her life until graduation. This mural is far from the political art Alfaro worked on for his exhibition, and the theme is much more light and happy. Alfaro said that he enjoyed doing both works, because “Death, Drugs and La Linea” brought attention to a real social problem in Mexico, and the mural made him feel good when people stopped to look and take in the whole painting. Alfaro’s exhibition will be showing through May 11 at the Sheppard Gallery.

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