SAN ANTONIO — Rolando Briseño plunges via the depths of gastronomic historical past in his retrospective at Centro de Artes gallery. The queer Chicano artist explores the function of meals in tradition, mixing Mesoamerican and American iconography and custom into neo-expressionist work, conceptual public artwork, and images.
The retrospective contains 75 works organized in 10 sections. “Adam” (c. 1966), an acrylic-on-masonite portray that survived a home hearth that destroyed many early works, grounds Briseño’s expressionist impulses within the work of David Alfaro Siqueiros: A scumbling method, coupled with the contorted posture of the determine, suggests uncooked vitality.
The impression of a one-year sojourn to Italy in 1986 might be seen in works comparable to “Michaelangelo on the Table” (1986), by which a male nude determine seemingly plucked from the Sistine Chapel’s altar fresco leaps towards the viewer, harried brushstrokes conveying vitality and sexuality mixing with people who counsel gustatory pleasure within the type of fruits and an entire hen. This interprets to neo-expressionism in “Confusion at the Table” (1989), by which warring, textured streaks of crimson, yellow, and black counsel the frenzy of mastication. And with a discovered tablecloth as canvas, the spiral directionality of Briseño’s brush in “American Table” (1994) appears to emulsify the hypnosis, delusion, and solitude of this nation’s custom of eating in entrance of a tv.
Rolando Briseño, “Michaelangelo on the Table” (1986), acrylic on canvas, 57.4 x 46.5 inches (145.8 x 118.1 cm)
Briseño’s tablescapes additionally delectably flaunt Mesoamerican and regional eating histories. “The First Course of an Aztec Banquet” (1998) depicts the Aztec providing of a pre-meal smoke and flowers in parallel to the Western custom of a cigar after dinner. The work hashes Aztec codices with florid bursts that counsel the odor of tobacco and blossoms infusing the air. The round “Fatso-Watso Table” (1995) wavers between criticizing and celebrating the fattening cuisines of San Antonio — Tejano, Norteño, and Southern — with the conviviality of arms throughout a desk modeled after the artist’s associates.
Later works embrace the photographic print “Elemental Tablescape” (2007), by which two nude males are splayed out throughout a eating desk, oriented towards a plate and utensils on the middle, in opposition to a backdrop of a telescopic view of the universe. They maintain a mobile phone and a distant management of their arms, and the desk on which they lay can alternatively be learn as a eating plate, maybe anticipating the mediatization of each intercourse and eating (supply apps, mukbang, meals influencers), in addition to a bigger tradition of digital consumption.
“Spinning San Antonio de Valero” (2009), a large-scale styrofoam sculpture of Saint Anthony, San Antonio’s namesake, stands on the bottom of the Alamo. It may be rotated in order that the saint is the other way up, which, in keeping with Catholic people custom, symbolizes the requesting of a favor. On this case, Briseño asks for an account that represents the often-omitted narratives of Indigenous and Tejano peoples. A video recording of a efficiency sees the statue being spun repeatedly, in a reclamation of the Alamo as the positioning of the start of Mexican-American tradition. Its rhythmic soundtrack of Tejano strings and horns rings throughout the gallery, infusing the exhibition as an entire with its robust name to un-Whitewash historical past.
Rolando Briseño, “Adam” (c. 1966), acrylic on masonite, 36 x 24 inches (91.4 x 61 cm)
Rolando Briseño, “Confusion at the Table” (1989), acrylic and oil on wooden, 45 x 66 inches (114.3 x 167.6 cm)
Rolando Briseño, “The First Course of an Aztec Banquet” (1998), acrylic on tablecloth, 36 x 36 inches (91.4 x 91.4 cm)
Rolando Briseño, “Fatso-Watso Table” (1995) enamel on plastic tablecloth, 53 inches (134.6 cm) in diameter 
Documentation of Rolando Briseño, “Spinning San Antonio” (2010–11), performances in entrance of Alamo mission (picture by Joan Frederick; courtesy the artist)
Eating with Rolando Briseño: A 50-Yr Retrospective continues at Centro de Artes (101 South Santa Rosa Avenue, San Antonio, Texas) via February 9. The exhibition was curated by Ruben Cordova.