Margarita Cabrera
For the next two years, from August 2011 until August 2013, the El Paso Museum of Art will feature eleven artworks from the last ten years by the Monterrey, Mexico born artist Margarita Cabrera. Cabrera first became known for her soft-sculptures of commercial products such as coffeemakers and blenders manufactured at US-owned maquiladoras in Mexico to serve as reminders of the labor involved. In time Cabrera’s concern for the role of laborers who build American products outside the United States outgrew her interest in the objects themselves, and she began to organize projects that involved the work of artisans from immigrant communities. Cabrera’s Arbol de la Vida John Deere Model 790 is the result of a project involving the creation of a life-size replica of a John Deere tractor in clay, the “tree of life” for many workers in the agricultural community. Cabrera's cross-cultural perspective allows her artistic practice to involve the political, social and emotional aspects of two distinct, yet closely connected cultures. Cabrera lives and works in El Paso.
Margarita Cabrera – Biography
 
Margarita Cabrera was born in 1973 in Monterrey, Mexico. She lived in Mexico City for ten years and then immigrated to the U.S. with her family. She received an MFA from Hunter College in New York, NY. Cabrera currently lives and works in El Paso, TX. Her most recent exhibtions include a solo show entitled Pulso y Martillo at UC Riverside Sweeney Art Gallery, Riverside, CA, during which she debuted two performance works. Her work was also included in New Image Sculpture at the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX and the Trans/Action at Guadalupe Cultural Art Center, San Antonio, TX. Her work has been included in Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX; El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY; Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Ketchum, ID and San Jose Museum of Art, CA. In 2008 she was a resident artist at ArtPace, San Antonio, TX. Cabrera is the recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant and was a finalist for the Texas Prize in 2007. Cabrera is represented by Walter Maciel Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.
 
Image Credit:
Margarita Cabrera (American, 1973 - )
Arbol de la Vida: John Deere Model 790, 2007
Ceramic, slip paint and steel hardware
Courtesy of the artist

The latest in the series of themed exhibitions from the Museum’s growing collection of retablos is Nuestra Senora Dolorosa/ Our Lady of Sorrows. Established in the late 14th century the theme of Our Lady of Sorrows is meant to show homage to the suffering of Christ’s mother over the death of her son. Deliberately formulated to also inspire cultic devotion these retablos typically symbolize Mary’s sorrows by depicting a sword piercing her breast or in a grieving pose with hands clasped. Also included are retablos which depict Our Lady of Sorrows with symbols of Christ’s Passion to further emphasize his suffering. These nineteen works of art from the 18th and 19th were produced by trained and self-taught anonymous, Mexican artists whose spiritual devotion to this subject motivated their artistic abilities.
 
Image Credit:
Anonymous
Our Lady of Sorrows, 18th C,
oil on copper, 13 ¼ x 11”
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard G. Miller
1977.1.11

Bienal Ciudad Juárez- El Paso Biennial 2013
June 2 – August 18, 2013
El Paso Museum of Art
Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Gallery
 
Presented by S-Mart
 
Including over 40 artists living and working within 200 miles of the US/Mexico border the Biennial 2013 is fascinating glimpse at the diversity and vibrancy of cultural production of this region. Including two artworks by each artist this exhibition constitutes the third collaboration between the El Paso Museum of Art and the Museo de Arte INBA - Cd. Juárez. Carefully selected by the jurors Yoshoa Okon and Cesareo Moreno the Biennial 2013 will result in a purchase prize of one artwork, a solo museum exhibition for one artist at both museums and a SOMA residency in Mexico City. The Bienal Ciudad Juarez El Paso Biennial is the only exhibition of its type in existence and in 2011 received an award for U.S.- Mexico cross-border cooperation and innovation from the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars.
 
Featured Artists:
 
Mónica Arreola
Mely Barragán Chávez
Gabriel Boils Terán
Gabriela Buenrostro Solórzano
Angel Cabrales
Margarita Cabrera
Alejandro Cartagena
Pablo Casteñeda
Saulo Salvador Cisneros Sánchez
Mark Clark
Julia Curran
Ismael de Anda III
Jamex and Einar de la Torre
Francisco Delgado
Gaspar Enriquez
Alfredo Espinoza Gutierrez
Fidelius X (Fidel Hernández)
Vincent N. Figliola
David Garza
Nabil Gonzalez
Tm Gratkowski
Olga Guerra
Carlos Gutierrez
Robert Jackson Harrington
Luis G. Hernandez
Amanda Jaffe
Héctor Manuel Jaramillo López (Daniel López)
Anthony Lazorko
Eder Lindorfe
Gabriel Luis Perez
César A. Martínez
Jeffrey Miranda
José Manuel Mireles Reyes
Diana Molina
Alejandro Morales
Oscar Moya
Elel Parra (Angel Miguel Parra Venegas)
Priscila Alejandra Pérez Peralta
Jessica Pizaña Roberts
David Politzer
Carlos Humberto Ramírez Lara
Francisco Javier Rosales Chávez
Marci Ivette Santos Guzmán
Lourdes (Luly) Sosa Espinoza
Werc (Jari Alvarez Rivera)
Miguel Zambrano Meza