Rendered Presence: Artistas de Nuevo México Opening Reception

The National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) is proud to welcome a new guest-curated exhibition that showcases New Mexico artists who play with scale and challenge stereotypes about art from the Land of Enchantment. Rendered Presence: Artistas de Nuevo México, opens at the NHCC Visual Art Museum on Friday, Sept. 13. 

“Supporting our community is a core part of the Center’s mission, and we’re incredibly excited to showcase an exhibition with deep New Mexico roots,” said NHCC Executive Director Zack Quintero. “Rendered Presence reminds us that powerful work from our New Mexico gente comes in all forms, each artwork comes with its own New Mexico story and connection.” 

The exhibition explores artworks by 13 artists living and working throughout New Mexico, including painters, photographers, artists working with textiles and other soft sculpture forms. Many of the artworks are figurative and created on a scale that challenges limited understandings of New Mexican art, which is often reduced to stereotypes of landscape and ‘cowboy’ art or dismissed as small-scale. In their own medium and format, each artist explores identity and the self, art history, and the expanse of Hispanic, Chicana/o/x, and Latina/o/x contemporary art.   

Rendered Presence is guest curated by Santero and Cultural Iconographer Vicente Telles. Growing up in the South Valley, Telles began painting traditional retablos using natural pigments created from clays and minerals on homemade gesso, which is then sealed with an archival varnish. Always looking for ways to push boundaries, his style has evolved to include various interpretations of traditional Catholic and cultural iconography, which is evident in his social commentary retablos and his ongoing border culture series. 

“I just wanted to bring together all the artists that I had been working with, and a few that I haven’t, so that they can show the cross-section of what’s happening in New Mexico art outside of the typical Southwestern art scene,” said Telles. 

The exhibition will be on view in the NHCC Community Gallery, dedicated to providing opportunities for emerging New Mexico curators and artists to present unique perspectives on visual culture. Join us for a free public reception celebrating the opening of Rendered Presence on Friday, Sept. 13 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. This exhibition is generously supported by Bank of America. Visit nhccnm.org/museum to learn more and plan your visit today.