Washington State University: WSU Schnitzer Museum opens new exhibitions for fall semester
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU welcomes visitors to the fall semester with new exhibitions and related programming for the community to enjoy.
Opening Tuesday, Aug. 23, Juventino Aranda: “Esperé Mucho Tiempo Pa Ver” (I Have Waited a Long Time to See) expresses a search for identity at the intersection of Mexico and America; and Trimpin’s Ambiente432 sound sculpture, which has been re-installed, is available for visitor interaction and exploration in the Pavilion gallery. The museum has newly extended hours and encourages visitors to enjoy its exhibitions from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Of his latest exhibition, Juventino Aranda has stated, “I am Mexican and second generation ‘American.’ I am not Hispanic, Latino, and definitely not Spanish — even though I live everyday with the consequences of their conquest.” Aranda’s sharp-witted art navigates this cultural borderland, drawing from pre-Columbian sources as well as current affairs related to the social, political, and economic struggles of late capitalism and notions of the American dream. His art and activist practices are influenced by the grassroots movements of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, while at the heart of his enterprise lie poignant themes of social aspiration and reflections of personal vulnerability veiled in a tenderness and humor meant to disarm.
“Esperé Mucho Tiempo Pa Ver” presents new and past work, marking Aranda’s first museum exhibition in eastern Washington. Born to Mexican immigrants in Walla Walla, Washington, much of his recent work draws on his family history and particularities of his childhood that speak to foreignness in his native land. Like his personal experience of never fully ascribing to one cultural category, his artwork blends and manipulates the categories of paintings and sculpture, craft and high art, manufacturing and the handmade, as well as the formal and conceptual strategies of post-minimalist artists.
Funding for this exhibition is provided by the Samuel H. and Patricia W. Smith Endowment, the Walla Walla Foundry, Nancy Spitzer, and members of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU.
In addition to Juventino Aranda’s and Trimpin’s exhibitions, the museum is concurrently showcasing Keiko Hara: Four Decades of Paintings and Prints on view through Dec. 17 and Our Stories, Our Lives: Irwin Nash Photographs of Yakima Valley Migrant Labor on view through March 11.