The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art and GULCH Collective are proud to present FUTURE RELICS: Artifacts for a New World, a powerful presentation by a new generation of Latinx and Indigenous artists who are bringing performance and the visual arts together to challenge the inequitable relationship between Eurocentric museum practices and artifacts looted from colonized societies in the Americas.
As cultural institutions like the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art begin the process of reevaluating their Latin American collections, we look to artists to show us possible avenues of transfiguration. Who will interpret these objects in the future? What will survive to tell our stories? FUTURE RELICS will develop in three phases over a period of eleven months, each phase building on the one before. The artists will create their own systems of analytical, whimsical, and absurd responses to objects selected from the Marjorie Barrick’s pre-Columbian collection, questioning notions of “the exotic” and “the authentic” as they seek to extend the transformation of our present world from within the museum outwards.
FUTURE RELICS: Artifacts for a New World will be installed in the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art’s West Gallery from Sept. 28, 2020 to Aug. 27, 2021. Phase one features work by Sinai Basua, Adriana Chavez, Dan Hernandez, Homero Hidalgo, Cesar Piedra, and Miguel Rodriguez. Follow the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art and GULCH on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for future updates, including information about phases two and three.
About GULCH
GULCH is an intersectional artist collective based in Las Vegas that supports arts projects, champions artists, and strives to amplify the voices and ideas of marginalized communities through curated exhibitions, projects, workshops, performances, and critical dialogue. The GULCH collective organizers are Justin Favela, Jennifer Kleven, Quindo Miller, Krystal Ramirez, Lance L. Smith, and Mikayla Whitmore. More information about GULCH can be found on Instagram @gulchcollective.
The Artists
- Miguel Rodriguez was born in Wichita KS and grew up in Leavenworth KS, alongside the Missouri River, surrounded by green vistas, big skies, old homes, and farms. His mother, a 5th generation Kansan, and his father, an Afro-Puerto Rican with roots on the island that go back to the late 1700s, were brought together by the American Military. In 2000, he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute then moved to Las Vegas in 2001 to pursue his Masters of Fine Arts from UNLV. Working predominantly in ceramics, sculpture, and large scale murals, his colorful and dynamic work draws inspiration from science, popular culture, and current events. He currently teaches Ceramics and 3D Design at UNLV.
- Adriana Chavez is a queer interdisciplinary performer, director, educator, and image-maker who strives to embody diverse perspectives of the human condition through her work. She has worked with the NYC Clown Theater Festival, the Naked Empire Bouffon Company, CA/MA, Shakespeare & Company, MA, and with many institutions across Nevada, including Majestic Repertory Theatre, Las Vegas Theatre Company, A Public Fit, Meow Wolf and participated in the Inaugural Bullfrog Biennal at the Goldwell Open Air Museum. Chavez holds an MFA in Ensemble-based Physical Theatre from Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. She is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Cesar Piedra is an interdisciplinary visual artist working in sculpture, ceramics, and performance. His work addresses issues of identity from a Mexican-American perspective, employing historical iconography, cultural hybridity, and naturalism to illustrate the experience of living between cultures and history. Piedra has exhibited at galleries in Carson City, Reno, and Yerington, NV. Born and raised in Southern California, he currently lives in Reno.
- Dan Hernandez creates mixed media artworks that aim to remind us of the persistence of childhood nostalgia through whimsical references to cartoons, toys, movies, cassette tapes, pizza slices, Coke, and cupcakes. Growing up in a peripatetic, low-income military family, he saw how intense memories can attach themselves to cheap, transportable pop culture objects, such as Pez dispensers and comic books. His work is informed by his awareness of the emotional weight of these mass-market products. His gallery installations consider the different social and environmental forces that shape our self-perception. Based in Las Vegas, he has exhibited in Nevada and California. He is the creator of SOCIAL COMA zine and a core member of the Las Vegas street art collective Cult 33. His wood sculptures have appeared quietly in urban environments across the Northwest.
- Sinai Basua is a queer visual artist based in Las Vegas. As a first-generation American born in Los Angeles and raised in El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico they explore the concepts of (sub)culture, expectations placed upon the working class, and the constructs of gender, race, and queer identity with an influence of daydreams. Their work was featured in the Queer Arts Film Festival Las Vegas and continue to split their time between art department work on various sets throughout the West Coast while directing an ongoing docu-series This Is How We Live.
- Homero Hildalgo was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 1980 and migrated to the U.S. in 1995. Having lived in Miami he then completed a BFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute and has recently obtained an MFA at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Homero explores Painting's unique properties and illusory characteristics: Color, whether moody, powerful or material is made to wander through various systems that aim at improvisation; often projecting movies onto canvases to create all-over compositions that expand on abstract expressionist traditions. His early work is included in private collections such as the Denver Art Museum, the Snite Museum of Art in Notre Dame IN and he has been featured in international exhibits such as Pach Pan in 2019 at DiabloRosso gallery in Panama City, Panama.
- Geovany Uranda was born in 1993 in San Gabriel, California and raised in Las Vegas by his mother and her family, Geovany Uranda has long been a member of the Southern Nevada arts scene. A career in music gave way to his interest in becoming a self-taught graphic designer, creating flyers for all sorts of shows and events. As an artist, he has explored mediums such as photography, sculpture, and print. He has participated in group exhibitions and collaborated on numerous projects including the recent design of “The ABCs of Latindad Coloring Book” for the podcast Latinos Who Lunch."
About the Museum
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art believes everyone deserves access to art that challenges our understanding of the present and inspires us to create a future that holds space for us all. Located on the campus of the most racially diverse university in the United States, we strive to create a nourishing environment for those who continue to be neglected by contemporary art museums, including BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ groups. As the only art museum in the city of Las Vegas, we commit ourselves to leveling barriers that limit access to the arts, especially for first-time visitors. To facilitate access for low-income guests we provide free entry to all our exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and community activities. Our collection of artworks offers an opportunity for researchers and scholars to develop a more extensive knowledge of contemporary art in Southern Nevada. The Barrick Museum is part of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). More information about the Barrick can be found here.
About the College of Fine Arts
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art is part of the UNLV College of Fine Arts. A creative nexus anchored within the vibrant and diverse culture of Las Vegas, the College of Fine Arts boldly launches visionaries who transform the global community through collaboration, scholarship, and innovation. More about its exhibition spaces, and performance venues, along with its seven academic departments and schools, can be found at the College of Fine Arts website.
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Make a reservation
To make an appointment visit Eventbrite. The Barrick Museum of Art is open to the public Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., by appointment. Please reserve your spot to see one of our current exhibitions. Please note that for the safety of our community, all visitors are required to wear a face-covering and maintain social distance from others.
Find us
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art is located in the heart of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. The museum is easily accessed from the west side of campus at the intersection of Harmon Avenue and University Center Drive. Drive east on East Harmon Ave until the road enters the campus and terminates in a parking lot. The Museum will be on your right, next to a desert landscape garden. Directions here.
Parking
Visitors may park in metered, staff and student spots free of charge after 7 pm on weekdays, 1 pm on Fridays, and all day Saturday. Daily, weekly, or monthly permits can be purchased from Parking and Transportation Services. Metered parking spaces for visitors can be found in the parking lot outside the Barrick’s entrance, along East Harmon Ave, and in the lot behind the Lied Library. Other metered green zones are available in the Cottage Grove Avenue Parking Garage and parking areas throughout campus.
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