Contemporary at Blue Star invites the public to the opening of our three new exhibitions: The C&’s Center of Unfinished Business, Kaysaypac: Portraits and Figures by Leeanna Chipana, and Cheng Xinhao’s Silver…and Other Elements. The Contemporary is always free and open to the public.

The C&s Center of Unfinished Business

Contemporary is thrilled to partner with C&, a multimedia platform for contemporary visual arts, to present The Center of Unfinished Business, a reading room that encapsulates an array of books that explore the persistence of colonialism in various ways, from its origins to how it effects people and places today. You’ll find texts on the way land and culture have been forcibly stripped from native people due to colonialism alongside texts that explore how empire-building also connects to fashion, 21^st century capitalism, and more.

Kaysaypac: Portraits and Figures by Leeanna Chipana

Born in Long Island, New York to an immigrant Quechuan-Peruvian father and American mother, Leeanna Chipana draws from her Quechuan and American identity by incorporating Incan, Aztec, and Mayan iconography with classical European oil painting techniques and approaches. The blending and blurring of indigenous figures and Western techniques is an effort of disrupting colonial erasure by placing Indigenous-Latinx figures at the forefront of a very Euro-centric style of painting.

Cheng Xinhao
Silver…and Other Elements

In this four-channel film, Cheng Xinhao investigates the Mang people’s (the indigenous people living at the border of Vietnam and China) adaptation to shifting borders and changing systems. To explore this moving borderline and the migration of its people, Xinhao follows the fluctuating use of currency.

+ Register Here

 

Join the Contemporary and the curators of  Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers | Soñadores y creadores del cambio, Jill Baird + Greta de León, for an exhibition walkthrough.

The artists in Xicanx, as the title suggests, are dreamers and changemakers. Of Mexican-American origin, they self-identify as Xicanx, a term that crosses national borders and gender lines to encompass the Chicano people’s multi-generational experiences of social difference. These artists are part of a rich tradition of combining visual art and activism. Xicanx was originally presented by the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) in Canada, and The Americas Research Network (ARENET).

Breakfast tacos and coffee will be provided. This event is free and open to the public.

Contemporary at Blue Star invites the public to the opening of Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers | Soñadores + creadores del cambio. Of Mexican-American origin, they self-identify as Xicanx, a term that crosses national borders and gender lines to encompass the Chicano people’s multi-generational experiences of social difference.

Opening night will include a performance by exhibiting artist Roberto Gonzalez at 8pm.

+ Free and open to the public

+ Register here

Join us for breakfast tacos and an artist-led walkthrough with exhibiting artists, Michael Guerra Foerster and the CAM Perennial curator and artists! Learn more about the artwork, process, and the significance behind the work.

In partnership with Contemporary Art Month, Contemporary at Blue Star will host the 2024 CAM Perennial exhibition, Vernacular Systems, curated by Christopher Blay. Vernacular Systems highlights themes of interconnectivity from personal and globalized perspectives. The artists reflect on the human nature to connect to the world around us–from nature, to family, to work, and the day to day. They also critique histories and systems which thrive on disconnection yet resolve in knowing that even when connection is not visible, there exists networks of systems linking humanity, roots that may unify. Vernacular Systems features San Antonio and Houston artists: Ricky Armendariz, Nela Garzón, Jennifer Battaglia, Juan Carlos Escobedo, Preston Gaines, Raul Rene Gonzalez, Mark Anthony Martinez, Shavon Morris, Marc Newsome, Alán Serna, Monique Sullivan, and Zulma Vega.

 

Michael Guerra Foerster’s solo exhibition, Without a Trace, investigates connection, and touches on ideas of materialism, and the ephemeral. In large part a reaction to capitalistic structures that surround the art world, Foerster freely gifts his work in the hopes of creating genuine connections between the artwork, viewer, and artist. In his exhibition at the Contemporary, Foerster creates an exercise in loss and letting go by creating an interactive installation which will involve the viewer destroying unfired clay sculptures to find a token to carry home.

Please join the Contemporary at Blue Star and Contemporary Art Month for the annual CAM Kick-off on Friday, March 1, 2024. This event is free and open to everyone!

The Contemporary will be premiering two exhibitions: Michael Guerra Foerster‘s exhibition, Without a Trace, and the CAM Perennial exhibition, Vernacular Systems, curated by Christopher Blay and featuring Ricky Armendariz, Nela Garzón, Jennifer Battaglia, Juan Carlos Escobedo, Preston Gaines, Raul Rene Gonzalez, Mark Anthony Martinez, Shavon Morris, Marc Newsome, Alán Serna, Monique Sullivan, and Zulma Vega. 

The Contemporary will also announce the grantees of our Berlin Residency Program for the 2024–2025 cycle.

About Contemporary Art Month

During the month of March in San Antonio, Contemporary Art Month (CAM) provides a platform for the artists communities of San Antonio to share the best it has to offer throughout the entire city. CAM gathers the best of galleries, museums, performing arts spaces, schools, artist studios and various unconventional locations in a single calendar to support and promote events contemporary art events and exhibitions all over the city of San Antonio. Contemporary Art Month is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Join Contemporary at Blue Star for our first exhibition of the new year, Indian Removal Act II: And She Was featuring local artist and recent alumni of our Berlin Residency Program, Joe Harjo. This is the second part of a three-part exhibition series that looks at historical and contemporary issues impacting Native American communities.

 

Indian Removal Act II: And She Was shifts focus to Native women, specifically the stories of Harjo’s family members, to highlight how Christianity has been used as a tool to justify the enslavement or subjugation of non-Christian people and territories.

 

This event is free and open to everyone.

Free and open to the public.

 

Visit Joe Harjo in the studio! Harjo will be featured in a solo exhibition in Contemporary’s main gallery from February 2 to May 5, 2024, titled Indian Removal Act II: And She Was. To prepare for the show, he will be utilizing one of our neighboring spaces, 115 Blue Star, to create many of the artworks on-site. Stop by on First Friday in January for a special open studio visit, where you can view his process and engage with the artist in-person. Save the date for the opening of his exhibition on First Friday, February 2, from 6–9pm!

 

 

On the First Friday of every month, our Blue Star Arts Complex and greater King William Cultural Arts District come alive during our community art walk. Join us for an opportunity to see current exhibitions afterhours and explore the artist studios, galleries, and pop-ups in the neighborhood.

More information on First Friday happenings can be found at on the Blue Star Arts Complex calendar. After 2:00 pm, only paid parking is available in the Blue Star Arts Complex parking lot for $15.

 

On the First Friday of every month, our Blue Star Arts Complex and greater King William Cultural Arts District come alive during our community art walk. Join us for an opportunity to see current exhibitions afterhours and explore the artist studios, galleries, and pop-ups in the neighborhood. More information can be found at on the Blue Star Arts Complex calendar.

 

Join us for the opening of three new solo exhibitions featuring artists Brittany Ham, Adam Schreiber, and Michael Velliquette during First Friday.