VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

Talento Bilingüe de Houston presents the exhibition Joe Peña: FIGURES & FLESH, Paintings, Prints, and Drawings. Artist's Reception: Thursday, January 20th, 2011, 7 - 9pm. Exhibition Dates: Jan 20 - Feb 18, 2011. Roasted gourmet insects will be served during the reception. Come and meet the artist, find imagery and provoke beauty / repulsion!

Statement:
This current body of 2-D Artist, Joe Peña, was birthed from admiration of works by numerous Flemish still-life painters such as Rembrandt and Chardin among others, as well as still – life studies (of flesh) completed by other great artists such as Claude Monet and Chaim Soutine, and with that for him a desire to execute such raw material in a variety of two dimensional means including drawing, printmaking and painting.

During this time of investigation his interest in portraiture was rekindled, creating many examples from life as is the tradition. The subject matter for both bodies of work is grounded by a deep appreciation of his Hispanic heritage and his cultural upbringing. Peña’s work is a part of several prestigious public and private collections including Cheech Marin and the Southwest Museum of Art and has been a finalist for the Hunting Prize.

Biography:
Born and raised in Texas, Peña received his B.F.A. from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi in 1994. Shortly after, he moved to New York City to assist in the creation of a contemporary gallery entitled MB Modern, which operated for six (6) years before relocating its business to Houston, TX. Staying and pursuing a career in the arts, he attended private classes with instructors from the Art Students League of New York and The New York Figurative Academy.

During this time he exhibited regularly in galleries and museums nationally and internationally. Additionally, he worked at Babcock Galleries for four (4) years, which at the time had celebrated its 150th year as a leader in American Modernism. After ten years in New York City, he was invited by his Alma Mater to be the first painter in the Master of Fine Arts program of which he received his diploma in 2005. In 2006, Peña was appointed to the post of Public Arts Manager for the City of Corpus Christi, of which he served for a year and a half before assuming the role of Gallery Director for Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. He continues the role as Director, as well as teaching courses in painting.

“[Peña’s work] is an example of the trend toward realism among emerging artists...[the work) is so straight forward in its economy of line and pattern that it might easily have been influenced my 19th-century Japanese prints, or even the prints of the French Impressionists who first championed Japanese art in the West. “ Newark Star Ledger, Newark, NJ