1981 "El Espejo" Teal, Brown and Blue Toned Modernist Figurative Print by Amado Maurilio Pena

Description

Teal, brown and blue tone abstract figurative original print by Amado Maurilio Pena. The piece depicts five women figures that … more Teal, brown and blue tone abstract figurative original print by Amado Maurilio Pena. The piece depicts five women figures that either appear back-to-back or face-to-face. The women wear long jewel-toned garments with long, black, straight hair trailing down their backs. Signed, titled, and editioned by the artist at the top. Framed in a modern black frame.

Dimensions Without Frame: H 32 in. x W 21.5 in.

Artist Biography: Amado Maurilio Peña Jr. (born 1943) is an American visual artist and art educator of Mexican and Yaqui ancestry. He is known as an important Mexican American artist who emerged from the historical Chicano Movement. He works primarily in printmaking. His artwork was featured in the Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation exhibition.

Amado M. Peña Jr. was born in the border town of Laredo, Texas, in 1943. He received bachelor's and master's degrees in art and education at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He has taught art at various Texas schools in Laredo, Crystal City, and Austin. Peña refers to himself as Mestizo due to his mixed Mexican and Yaqui ancestry, which informs his artistic practice. He is a member and recognized as an artisan in the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona.

Growing up with a working-class family in a border town, Amado M. Peña Jr. witnessed firsthand the conditions that led to the Chicano Movement. In the 1970s, Texas-based Chicano artist and educator Mel Casas inspired Peña and others of his generation to create art aimed at documenting Mexican American culture and life. It was at this moment that Peña became involved in the Chicano Movement. He also began to learn more about the indigenous side of his family. Indigenous painter Jose Encarnacion Peña was also a mentor to Amado M. Peña Jr.

Peña was featured in the 1990-1993 exhibition Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation which traveled to ten major cities in the United States. The exhibition was the most extensive and widely seen show of Chicano art to date and introduced the artists involved to wider audiences. Peña's art can be seen in the United States Department of States Art in Embassies Collection and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. less