Ya nos llevó el Nahual/ Babaroga je dosla
(the Boogeyman Is here)
Featuring the work of Maja Ruznic and Luz María Sánchez* with an accompanying text by Joshua Lawrence.
Opening Reception
September 18th, 7 – 9pm
On view
September 18th – November 7th, 2015
Maja Ruznic
Maja Ruznic was born in Bosnia and Hercegovina in 1983 and came to the United States as a refugee in 1992. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Ruznic studied Psychology and Art at UC Berkeley and received her MFA from the California College of the Arts in 2009. Her paintings, drawings and performances explore memory, trauma, and sexuality.
Ruznic has exhibited in Germany, France, Texas, Puerto Rico, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Her painting "The Mother of All Evil" was featured on the cover of New American Paintings in 2011 (Pacific Coast Section, Number 97). Ruznic’s work is included in the Jiminez-Colon Collection (Puerto Rico) and was recently featured in JUXTAPOZ magazine.
Luz María Sánchez
Luz Maria Sánchez, works with themes such as the Mexican diaspora, violence in the Americas, and the failure of Nation-states. She employs both sound as well as the moving image in order to create a full sensory experience, thus imbuing the work with a physical immediacy in the face of political trauma.
Sánchez was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. She studied music and literature, and through her doctoral studies at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, she focused on the role of sound in art since its mechanical inception in the 19th century.
Sánchez is a Texas resident who splits her time between San Antonio and Mexico City. Her work has been included in major sound and music festivals such as Zéppellin Sound Art Festival, Spain; Bourges International Festival of Electronic Music and Sonic Art, France; Festival Internacional de Arte Sonoro, Mexico; and Tsonami International Sound Art Festival, Valparaiso; as well as exhibitions at The McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; The Dallas Contemporary; Galería de la Raza, San Francisco; Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX; John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI; Illinois State Museum, Chicago and Springfield; Centro de Cultura Contemporánea, Barcelona; Palacio de Cultura Banamex, Mexico City; X-Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City; Museo de Ciencias y Artes, Mexico City; and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca. In 2014 she received the first prize award for the inaugural Biennial de las Fronteras, and in 2015 she was awarded the prestigious national grant Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte by the National Institute of Arts and Culture in Mexico. Currently she has a solo exhibition at Artpace San Antonio where she is showcasing "riverbank" and "2487" made during her Summer 2006 International Artist-in-Residence--selected by visiting curator Yuko Hasegawa. In 2015, "riverbank" and "2487" entered the collection of the Linda Pace Foundation.
* Arts Member of the National System of Art Creators
Joshua Lawrence
Joshua Lawrence is a writer and philosopher based in Houston, Texas. Lawrence specializes in Continental philosophy of religion and political theology, with a strong interest in conceptual approaches to art and literature. He is a contributing editor for the Journal of Religion, Identity, and Politics, and holds membership in the American Academy of Religion, Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, and the American Weil Society. Lawrence is a doctoral student in the Joint Ph.D. Program facilitated by the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology. His areas of research include 20th century Continental Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Political Theology. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, and the American Weil Society.