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An exhibition of new works by Texas artist Benito Huerta will be on display at William Campbell Contemporary Art. The exhibition will include mixed media pieces including acrylic on canvas, screen prints, and other materials, layered to create a complex visual story while delving into such culturally relevant issues as war and the economy.

Huerta is a realist, and often finds inspiration in the nineteenth-century artists and works that began the Realist movement. He aspires "to be in a position to translate the customs, the ideas, the appearance of my epoch, according to my own estimation...to create a living art." This sentiment, taken from Gustave Courbet's 1855 Realist Manifesto, illuminates Huerta's interest not just in recording the story of his times, but also in making that story germane and engaging for today's viewers. He accomplishes this by using familiar iconography and abstracted, modern techniques reflective of a contemporary viewpoint.

By appropriating images from the art historical canon, the artist makes a visual and intellectual connection between past and present. This type of homage appears in Shock & Awe, which depicts as a screenprint the scene taken from Paul Gauguin's 1892 painting Spirit of the Dead Watching. The young woman lies on her bed, vulnerable and unable to control the outside, invasive forces. The digital countdown and shadow of an explosion indicate impending geographic devastation, while the contrasting skull tattoo on her back points to a more personal impact.

Elements of tension prevail in Sin Título #5, which examines the physical and emotional relationship between survival and desire. Visceral, spinelike imprints connect the bleeding heart and prisms with the money below-the means to survival, excess, and everything in between. This visual interplay exposes a symbiotic relationship between the two. Despite their divergence, each needs the other to remain balanced and whole.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

A highly accomplished Texas artist, Benito Huerta has exhibited work across the state and throughout the country, including shows at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary in Dallas, the Arlington Museum of Art, and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, among many others. In 2005, the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi organized a thirteen-year survey and catalogue of his work titled Soundings: Benito Huerta, 1992-2005. The show traveled to the El Paso Museum of Art in 2007.

Huerta takes a special interest in community-based art, and has participated in various public art projects. Most recently, he was named lead artist of the Fort Worth Parks Enhancement Project, and also worked on a project for the Mexican-American Cultural Center in Austin. He has collaborated with other area artists to create the International Peace Monument for Arlington in Gene Allen Park, in addition to contributing to the design of the Fort Worth Convention Center Public Art Project.

Huerta serves as an associate professor of art at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he is also the director of the university art gallery. He was a co-founder, executive director, and now director emeritus of Artlies, a Texas-based journal devoted to contemporary art. He has won various awards, including the Dallas Center for Contemporary Art's 2002 Artist Legend of the Year Award and the 2008 Maestro Tejano Award from theLatino Cultural Center in Dallas. His work can be found in museum collections nationwide, including the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Menil Collection, and Museum of Fine Arts in Houston; the DePaul University Museum in Chicago; the El Paso Museum of Art; and the Library of Congress. Corporate collections featuring Huerta's work include American Airlines, IBM, Microsoft, and Southwestern Bell, among others. Huerta received his B.F.A. from the University of Houston and his M.A. from New Mexico State University.

ABOUT THE GALLERY

Founded in 1974 by William and Pam Campbell, William Campbell Contemporary Art exhibits high-quality contemporary art in a variety of media, including paintings, works on paper, mixed-media constructions, photography, prints, ceramics, and sculpture. By exhibiting nationally recognized artists, along with new and emerging talent, the gallery aims to nurture an awareness and appreciation of the exciting diversity found in contemporary art.