Common Currents

• February 1 – May 6, 2018

In celebration of San Antonio’s Tricentennial year, six downtown artist-centric organizations: Artpace San Antonio, Contemporary at Blue Star, Carver Community Cultural Center, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, the Mexican Cultural Institute, and the Southwest School of Art, will partner to present an exhibition that will illuminate the 300 years of their hometown’s history. Common Currents is a diverse, encyclopedic showcase of San Antonio’s history as told and rewritten by more than 300 visual and performing artists, invited to participate by their peers, and presented over 6 venues.

Drawing on the connections or currents that run through San Antonio’s vibrant creative community, each of the organizing partners began by inviting two artists. These initial 12 artists were then asked to invite two peer artists, until more than 300 were amassed. All of the participating artists were assigned one year of San Antonio’s history on which to reflect in the development of their work for Common Currents. This exhibition is presented chronologically through a variety of contemporary media across the six venues.

Common Currents draws a portrait of San Antonio, by San Antonians. With the “chain letter-inspired” framework for the exhibition, each organization takes a backseat, letting the participating artists make decisions that may traditionally be the role of the organization or curator. This provides for an exciting presentation of artistic connections spanning our center city’s art venues.

Artists featured at Contemporary at Blue Star

1768 Tracy Lynch; 1769 Karl Frey; 1770 Trish Simonite; 1771 Ray Palmer; 1772 Rebecca Gonzalez; 1773 Patricia Ortiz; 1774 Sean FitzGibbons; 1775 Melissa Maschke; 1776 David Zamora Casas; 1777 Beck Whitehead; 1778 Matthew Mendez; 1779 John De Leon; 1780 Elias Vieyra; 1781 Marcy McChesney; 1782 Mario Perez; 1783 Ken Little; 1784 Kent Rush; 1785 Yenifer Gaviña Franco; 1786 Veronica Caceres; 1787 Pink Leche; 1788 Josh Huskin; 1789 Jeff Pecina; 1790 Jason Willome; 1791 Tom Turner; 1792 Jose Balli; 1793 Kate Ritson; 1794 Tamara Adira Say; 1795 Libby Rowe; 1796 Carol Cunningham; 1797 Amada Miller & Nicholas Frank; 1798 Xavier Gilmore; 1799 Daniela Cavazos Madrigal; 1800 Jung Hee Mun; 1801 Ruth Buentello; 1802 Verena Gaudy; 1803 Kelly Lockwood; 1804 Lacey Mills; 1805 Julia Barbosa Landois; 1806 Ovidio Giberga; 1807 Joan Frederick; 1808 Allison Valdivia; 1809 Martin Rodriguez; 1810 Jenelle Esparza; 1811 Nora Reyes; 1812 Lisette Chavez; 1813 Justin Boyd; 1814 Martin Rodriguez; 1815 Dane Rousay; 1816 Ariel Anais; 1817 Sarah Fox