JayJay

Joe Mariscal: Still Doing Time

September 7 – October 22, 2011

Joe Mariscal has a permanent place in the funk ceramics movement with his confrontational and expressionistic narrative sculptures. A Latino, academically trained at the Universidad de las Americas, Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, he uses Pre-Columbian ceramic techniques that make his work very distinctive in this group of already   controversial artists.  Mariscal received his MA from CSU Sacramento in 1979, having studied with Robert Brady and Peter VandenBerge. This one person exhibit highlights available treasures from Mariscal’s most intense years, a time that was deeply influenced by his teaching job at Deuel Vocational Correctional Facility in Tracy, CA.  Here he developed relationships with inmates, and translated his experience into larger than life sized portraits. Related to the prison inspired works in the show, are social commentary pieces exploring the gun as icon, along with other images related to our violent society.  Mariscal’s work can be found in the following collections: The Crocker Art Museum, The Sacramento Convention Center; The Mexican Museum in San Francisco; de Saisset Museum, University of Santa Clara; Di Rosa Preserve, Napa, CA; Arizona State University; Georgia State University, Atlanta, among others.

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