September 8 - October 13, 2022
From O’Kane Gallery:
“As an official Participating Space of the FotoFest Biennial 2022, University of Houston’s O’Kane Gallery is featuring artist Kathy Vargas’ “Este Recuerdo/About Memory” Sept. 8 – Oct. 13, 2022. The Artist Gallery Talk will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 6 p.m. with a reception from 5 – 7 p.m. The exhibition is a survey of photography from the 1970s to present. Vargas, a native and resident of San Antonio, creates multiple-exposure prints that are ethereal and intimate, often incorporating social observations or cues from history, including ancestral ties to Mexico and recognition of pre-Columbian cultures. Using film and a darkroom, the artist’s multi-layered photographs express the idea of simultaneous time, suggesting the fluidity of memory. The effect achieved has often been described as magic realism. “Most photographers spend their time looking for ‘good light.’ Some travel thousands of miles to find it. Do any of us think about ‘good darkness?’” said Vargas. “It’s the contrast of shadow that creates ‘good light,’ whether that contrast is physical, spiritual, intellectual, metaphorical, psychological, external, internal, and all the rest. We try to balance our lights and darks, but any balance is fleeting. Then the light changes. Pictures are the record of the light (and darkness) we’ve seen. This is my diary.” “Kathy Vargas is a prominent internationally exhibited photographer,” said Mark Cervenka, Professor of Art and Director of the O’Kane Gallery. “Bringing a survey encompassing 50 years of photography to Houston provides an opportunity for our students and the entire Houston community to see the evolution of her photography. Evocative and ethereal, layered with double exposures and hand colored, often abstract, her work retains the intimacy of family portraits and a respectful acknowledgment of lives past. Additionally, her work depicting individuals and the small mementos that mark their lives suggest unique elements of cultural backgrounds and, like UHD, recognizes the value of cultural diversity and a celebrated and equal presence and voice for all persons.” Vargas’ career includes an international exhibition record and acquisitions of her art into numerous private and public collections, including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. Influences include Mel Casa and the Con Safo group, which opened her eyes to Latinx art. Important touring group exhibitions include Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation organized by UCLA’s Wright Gallery (1990) and the Corcoran Gallery’s Hospice: A Photographic Inquiry (1996). Vargas is currently Professor of Art at University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. The O’Kane Gallery (located in the UHD Welcome Center, adjacent to the One Main Building) is open 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday – Friday; Noon – 5 p.m. on Saturday and closed University holidays. For GPS, use 201 Girard Street, Houston, Texas. Directions: Take Travis Street north through downtown Houston. After crossing Buffalo Bayou, turn right on Girard Street at the light. Turn right again to Visitor Parking. The gallery is located directly above Visitor Parking (take elevator to third floor). Metered parking is also available to the left of Girard Street. UHD is a stop on the Red Line of METRORail.”
One Main Street
Houston, 77002 TX
(713) 221-8042
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