May 4 - 18, 2023
Artist statement by Juan Miguel Ramos
Throughout the course of my art career, I have been interested in the juxtaposition of modes of representation. What does the viewer think is more real, engaging or important; the supposedly objective machine-generated image or the subjective hand-drawn portraits? These combinations, of photos of places around San Antonio and freehand portraits of locals, collectively provide a kind of civic portrait. Is it the people that make the place or the place that makes the people?
I, originally, made the first Secret City suite in 1999 as a body of work that I used to apply to grad school. The comic book style, photo-based Sharpie drawings included text that, in part, questioned the lack of representation of Mexican-Americans in mainstream media at the time. The next Secret City suite was made as illustrations of characters in Jimmy Mendiola’s 2003 film Speeder Kills. This addition to the series is called Secret City 2023 and it has two main components: 1. the “comic book covers” that are full-color, framed, inkjet prints and 2. the “supplemental content” that is accessible through the provided QR code.
I’m thinking of the framed work as a metaphor for social media and what people would like to present of themselves while the digital online content is a representation of the reality behind the façade.
– Artist BIO:
JUAN MIGUEL RAMOS
American, born in San Antonio,Texas, 1971
Juan Miguel Ramos is truly a product of San Antonio’s art education. He began his training at the age of eight, when he attended the Southwest School of Arts and Crafts. Subsequently, Ramos studied art at the San Antonio Art Institute and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, eventually earning a BFA and MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Ramos is a cofounder of San Anto Cultural Arts (SACA), a nonprofit community resource for artistic
and spiritual growth. From 2001 to 2007, he was an adjunct art instructor at UTSA as well as at Northwest Vista College and Palo Alto College, both in San Antonio. During Fall 2002, Ramos fulfilled an Artpace artist’s residency in San Antonio.
and in solo exhibitions, which include the Holter Museum in Montana, Luckman Center Gallery in Los Angeles, Soo Visual Arts in Minneapolis, and Museo Alameda of San Antonio, Texas. His work is in the permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, McNay Art Museum, New Museum in New York, Joe A. Diaz, Albuquerque Museum, Ruby City Art Museum and the San Antonio Museum of Art. His work was also selected for the Trienal Poli/Gráfi ca de San Juan 2004, Altoids Curiously Strong Collection in 2005, Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers at Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia 2022 and most recently, Culti vati ng Community Through Art: Sam Coronado Serie Project 2022. He is currently on display at Ruby City Art Museum for Tangible|Nothing. He has been featured in Glassti re and e-fl ux, and his most recent article is Sala Stories, Part Six, written for Glasstire in October, 2021. Ramos is also a professional musician who has toured around the country. Juan Miguel Ramos currently teaches art at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, TX.”
Reception: May 4, 2023 | 7–10 pm
Closing: May 18, 2023 | 7–10 pm
1420 South Alamo Street
San Antonio, 78204 Texas
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