"Boxing with Batman, 2016," a work of art by Alfredo Martinez and made from acrylic paint, yarn and fabric, will be on display at DePaul Art Museum beginning Jan. 7 as part of the museum's "LatinXAmerican" exhibition. (Photo courtesy of the artist)Designed to increase the visibility of Latinx artists and voices in museums, DePaul Art Museum has compiled an intergenerational group exhibition featuring 38 Latinx artists from Chicago and beyond, titled “LatinXAmerican.” The exhibition opens online Jan. 7 with hopes to transition to in-person in the spring. It will run through Aug. 15.
“LatinXAmerican” assesses the presence and absence of Latinx artists in DePaul Art Museum’s permanent collection, and reflects efforts to build towards equity and lasting transformation, according to Laura-Caroline de Lara, interim director of the museum. The exhibition is part of the museum’s ongoing Latinx initiative, which aims for greater Latinx representation and participation in museum exhibitions, collections and public programs, she notes. This Latinx initiative is a multi-year research inquiry focused on artists of Latinx heritage living and working in the United States.
“As we consider the future of the museum field and our relevance to our city and university communities, our hope is museum initiatives like ours at DePaul Art Museum will become commonplace, rather than newsworthy, as we all continue to adopt steps and principles around inclusion and equity that should have been the driving forces behind each of our organizations, all along,” de Lara says.
“LatinXAmerican” will occupy all of the museum’s galleries, and will include photographs, paintings, works on paper, sculptures, textiles, videos and installations primarily drawn from the museum’s collection, including several recent acquisitions, and new works from artists living throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.
“The goal of the initiative is to change art history, to make sure that the range of artists and experiences in the United States in 2021 are adequately represented in our collection and exhibitions,” says Julie Rodrigues Widholm, former director and chief curator of DePaul Art Museum. “Museums want to expand not just representation, but participation so that everyone feels empowered to be a contributor to contemporary culture."
Featured artists in the exhibition include Alberto Aguilar, Tanya Aguiñiga, Candida Alvarez, Susannah Bielak, Enrique Chagoya, Carlos Cortez, Karen Dana, Nicolás de Jesús, Claudio Dicochea, Salvador Dominguez, Dianna Frid, Maria Gaspar, Ester Hernández, Benito Huerta, Graciela Iturbide, Marisa Morán Jahn, Las Nietas de Nonó, Gala Porras-Kim, Luis Jiménez, Alejandro Jiménez-Flores, Salvador Jiménez-Flores, Caroline Kent, Sam Kirk, Rodrigo Lara, Melissa Leandro, José Lerma, Nicole Marroquin, Alfredo Martinez, Yvette Mayorga, Harold Mendez, Vik Muniz, Ramón Miranda Beltrán, Errol Ortiz, Diana Solís, Edra Soto, Vincent Valdez, Derek Webster and Mario Ybarra, Jr.
Public programs in conjunction with the exhibition include a 10-episode podcast hosted and produced by Ivan Lozano from
Archives and Futures, which features artists from “LatinXAmerican.” The first episode was released Dec. 4 and can be found on Spotify, Sound Cloud, Apple Podcast and DePaul Art Museum’s website.
Other public programs include a conversation about Latinx inclusivity with authors Arlene Dávila and Ed Morales; a discussion about Latinx Queer Art with C. Ondine Chavoya, professor of art at Williams College; a DePaul Art Museum collection intervention by Chicago-based artist Alberto Aguilar, an adjunct assistant professor of art at the University of Illinois at Chicago; poetry readings by Afro-Latinx writers; and live performances. Dates and details will be forthcoming.
“LatinXAmerican” was organized by current and former museum staff and student interns: Ionit Behar, assistant curator; Elyse Bluestone, Collection and Exhibition intern; Mia Lopez, assistant curator; David Maruzzella, curatorial intern; Jade Ryerson, Arthur James Museum Studies Fellow of DePaul Art Museum; and Julie Rodrigues Widholm, director, UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, former DePaul Art Museum director.
Support for this exhibition and its related programming is provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
DePaul Art Museum is located at 935 W. Fullerton Ave. on the Lincoln Park Campus. Future in-person visits are by appointment only with the reservation system to be announced soon on the museum’s website. Admission is free. Additional information is
online or by calling 773-325-7506.