Topico de Nopal

Tropico brings together four important artists of their generation, Shizu Saldamando, Gary Garay, Thomas Lee Bakofsky and Ana Lilia Salinas in an exhibit entitled Lo_Brown. The title of the exhibit refers to the nebulous state of contemporary aesthetics as it pertains to specific artistic renditions and the politics of their validation. Lo_Brown is neither low-brow nor high-brow, nor does it pretend to be, having survived alongside a parallel art world that is filled with overnight success and instant gratification. The exhibit will feature new work created in a variety of media including drawing, painting screen prints and three-dimensional mixed media.

Shizu Saldamando was born and raised in San Francisco‚s Mission district and received her B.A. from UCLA‚s School of Arts and Architecture in 2000. In 2002, she received an arts fellowship to attend Art Omi International Artist Colony in upstate New York and in 2005 she received her MFA from California Institute of the Arts.

Gary Garay work has no basis in mere nostalgia, not even interest in the simplistic devise of pop cultural insemination. Between the logo and the script, the images resist classifications. Gary is from Los Angeles with deep association to the border towns of Tijuana and Ensenada.

Thomas Lee Bakofky hails originally from El Paso Texas and graduate of Art Center School of Design. Wit and sublime political fire permeates his work that includes imagery easily recognizable weather it be Martha Stewart or the Virgen de Guadalupe..

Ana Lilia Salinas is from Austin Texas She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1986 and continued on to obtain a Master of Science in Bilingual Education in 1992 from Texas A & I in Kingsville, Texas. Presently, Salinas is a restaurateur and works with youth, teaching them art through the Mexic-Arte Educational Program. She is part of Coronado Series Print Project and her work has been selected to be a part of the Latino Art Collection at the University of Texas at San Antonio