October 17 - January 23, 2025
From Moncrief Cancer Institute Art Gallery:
“Despite the seemingly contrasting subjects, Alfredy “Freddy” Ortega’s mixed media artworks of sweet candies and snacks paired with glimpses of the Chihuahuan Desert are a sensory playground that encourage viewers to imagine the arid desert alongside the comforting experience of sharing sweet treats with loved ones. Viewers might imagine the warmth of the sun, the tangy or sugary taste of candy, the sounds of crinkling packaging, or the sounds of desert life moving within the landscape when looking at Ortega’s work. Ortega depicts familiar and mundane Mexican candy with brightly colored packaging he enjoyed as a child. For Ortega, each candy portrait acts as a tiny time machine that emits nostalgic magic. Using intuition and longing as a guide when making the imagined landscapes, he layers found materials and mark making that are based on his memories of forms often found in the desert – spiky flora, discarded rubber tires, remnants of fences, and an endless horizon line. When looked at together, the candy portraits and imagined landscapes included in “Crumbs of Food, Bits of Land” build a rich visual palette of Ortega’s memories and roots living in Mexico.”
Reception: October 17, 2024 | 7:30–8:30 pm
400 W. Magnolia Ave.
Fort Worth, 76104 Texas
817-288-9800
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