Veterano

Veterano

Sep 23–Oct 31, 2020

September 23 – October 31, 2020

At a time when we feel compelled to engage our community in the safety of the outdoors, Contemporary at Blue Star’s facade features rotating public artworks that extend programming happening inside the galleries and through online engagement.

Veterano is the work of César A. Martínez, Contemporary at Blue Star’s 2020 Red Dot Honorary Artist. Concurrent with the Red Dot Show, Veterano, greets visitors to the Blue Star Arts Complex and viewers traveling along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River.

This public artwork is made possible by Lifshutz Family Companies.

Artist César A. Martínez

San Antonio-based artist César A. Martínez is widely recognized as a major figure in the Chicano Art Movement of the 1970s and 1980s. His iconic portrait paintings from the Bato/Pachuco/Ruca series combine imaginary sitters and the artist’s depth of knowledge of art history with his lived experiences of life in South Texas. Martínez’s work has been included in the landmark exhibits La Frontera/The Border: Art About the Mexican/U.S. Border Experience, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego; CARA: Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation 1965-1985, organized by the Smithsonian Institute; and Hispanic Art in the United States, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He was honored with a solo exhibtion, and accompanying book, at the McNay Art Museum San Antonio, Texas in 2009. He has also shown at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; the San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio; and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston.