ART EXHIBIT PAYS HOMAGE TO US LABOR FORCE
San Ysidro, September 20, 2010- Los Rosarios de Doña Rosa Rios, will open at Casa Familiar’s THE FRONT: A Collaborative of Art, Culture, Design and Urbanism, this coming Friday October 8th 2010 from 6pm to 9pm.
The artist, Roberto Salas is known throughout for his public art installations. A San Diego based artist, Salas studied studio art at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and visual arts at the University of California, San Diego. His goal is to create work that is inter-generational, crosses economic divisions and speaks to a local audience of similar yet unique life experiences. With this in mind, he has created a series of artworks for this very special exhibit.
The exhibition will consist of large-scale rosaries, or prayer beads, commonly used in prayer in various religions. Salas is using the idea of a rosary, and replacing the beads with tools of the trade, creating an amazing and thought provoking display. Salas states that the “aim is to create an artwork in recognition of the Mexican immigrant labor force here in the United States.” Following his tradition of the sites of his installations influencing the direction of the artwork ; Salas is creating a homage to the country’s labor force, within walking distance of the worlds busiest border crossing.
If you stand inside, and look out of THE FRONT’s large storefront windows, you can see the backdrop to the border-towns resident’s life, the steel wall that separates Mexico and the United States. The backdrop, the forefront, the current favorite topic of controversial discussion, the US/Mexico border, metaphorically hangs in our gallery as our everlasting permanent exhibit. And this October, artist Roberto Salas uses it to inspire the message in his massive rosaries.
The exhibition will run from October 8 – October 29, 2010. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30am - 5pm or by appointment.
Roberto Salas is currently participating in Casa Familiar’s first artist residency program. Living and creating in San Ysidro, immersing himself in our community, and organizing multiple art projects that involve the community at various levels.
