Interview

"Quería que esta obra estuviera envuelta en la cultura pop mexicana y estadounidense."

"La justicia racial y social es realmente sólo uno de los temas que estamos explorando como parte de la bienal."

"[During the pandemic], it just started to feel like there was this invisible army of stories around us that we didn't have access to."

"I think there is something vulnerable, yet a necessary vulnerability, about acknowledging how relation, love, sex, children, and survival are all mixed up."

"I wanted this work to be enveloped in Mexican and American pop culture." 

"I was looking for a way to enter into a century-long fight that encompassed thousands of locations, women and people."

This year’s Texas Biennial, titled "A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon," is now on view across five sites in San Antonio and Houston.

"KBART is a low-power FM radio station filled with voices from the community, ranging from age 9 to 92."

Noah Simblist in conversation with Jeff Williams, Kysa Johnson, Cruz Ortiz, Ry Rocklen, Giovanni Valderas, Anoka Faruqee, Angela Dufresne, Lauren Cross, and Keliy Anderson-Staley.

"I think deep down, I understood that this subject deserved a big shift from me."

"The challenge and content that is built into an alternative space allows my work to respond and accentuate nuances of a history."

"When talking about the hero’s journey, someone might think in epic proportions, but the truth is we have seen things in everyday life that are hidden from our consciousness that are heroic."

"There is not one singular narrative for any place or 'community' — each person carries a perspective that can be honored if met with humility."

“I became this artist who fell in love with being patient, taking little steps — little steps — towards the big goal at the end.” 

"You often show up to hang an art work on a blank wall, only to find a defibrillator or fire extinguisher has been installed there."

"By creating work about being a father, I think I’ve only given myself more confidence as a parent."

“All roads lead to Houston! All roads lead to Houston in Black art.”

"These pieces have choices to them. Once they’re out of my control, they fall into the control of the viewer. They have a life beyond me."

“I don’t know if it’s some kind of weird time warp or something, but I feel like I run into different versions of myself at different stages.” 

"This idea of self-sabotage, lust, and immortality are running themes in my work, and I always have those three shadows behind me in the studio, so that’s probably where I’m headed."