Daniel Barragán plays with the format of painting by combining it with his research based in Indigenous
and Chicano studies of the American Southwest. Born in El Paso, TX, the visual connection is immediate: canvases in the shape of bandanas, spurs, and clay vessels speak to the history of the landscape and native populations, while the imagery and subject matter of bumper stickers, pop-culture monsters, and KISS create a sharp contrast of time and place. In true American-melting-pot fashion, Barragán draws inspiration from pinstriping, nail art, special fx makeup and fashion, combining them with his love for process and craft such as metal smithing, beading, textiles, and different forms of ornamentation. In one sense, this is Indigenous Futurism, reinterpreting the future (or the present) as alternative timelines without colonization or at least with unmitigated autonomy and self-direction, in which we can imagine a beaded Beetlejuice or sand paintings of KISS.
More ArtWork
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Pensive Eye
Contrasting the global, pandemic-enforced trend of living life through technology instead in person, Matthew Couper’s exploration of what social isolation might look like starts from an island in the middle of the ocean. For the artist, desert islands and desert proper are both metaphors for survival and reflect a bigger picture of what survival means […]
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Green Fairy Garden Gate
La Forgia started as a dream of owner Enzo Cinquegrana more than 20 years ago. A sculptor frustrated with the art gallery scene, Enzo dove head first into forging as a method to express his sculptural abilities. When he discovered forged metal could satisfy his need to create sculptural forms and his desire to have […]
