Dining with Rolando Briseño: A Perspective on a Retrospective
Prince of Flowers, by Rolando Briseño (2000)
Take a short walk east beneath the bright, colorful banners of Market Square to the glinting facade of Centro de Artes, San Antonio’s two-story treasure trove of Latino artwork and culture, and witness a collection fifty years in the making.
Dining with Rolando Briseño: A 50-Year Retrospective is a varied, fascinating collection of paintings, photographs, drawings, and one-of-a-kind public art pieces by Chicano artist and activist Rolando Briseño. Encompassing the entire first floor of Centro de Artes, viewers are given an up-close look at his life, his story, and his extensive body of work.
“What has been particularly wonderful about this exhibit is to see the generations coming together,” said Executive Director of the City of San Antonio Arts & Culture Department, Krystal Jones of the reception to the event so far. “So you have a lot of people, especially who came to the opening, who’ve known Rolando for many years, but then what’s been wonderful is that people are discovering the space, discovering his work for the first time because it’s a younger generation, so you really see that collective conversation.”
Briseño’s artistic explorations make use of a stunning array of mediums, from larger-than-life sculptures with moving parts, to tiny plastic boxes filled with little brown babies.
“I came upon the table as my symbol, as a primary symbol, which I see as a secular ceremonial center, or a locus of community,” explained the artist, “a place where people gather and communicate, or fight, or do different things.”
Much of his work centers around food and the relationships of those around the table, whether it’s cultural, biographical, political or sexual: a tower made of corn tortillas and rendered a signature burnt-orange hue harkens back to his Austin alma mater; a tourist destination map of California, painted over with a dizzying red-and-yellow spiral and a confluence of hands, some proffering food, others seizing blindly, serves as an incisive commentary on the nature and state of Mexican-American cuisine.
A sharp sense of humor is present in Briseño’s work too. Upon entrance to the gallery, visitors are greeted with a display case containing pottery that looks like it was unearthed in an archaeological dig, with one bearing a familiar, swinging bell, surrounded by the words “Taco Hell”; another seemingly ancient artifact features the cone-capped Jack-in-the-Box mascot, giving a playful wink.
Dining with Rolando Briseño: A 50-Year Retrospective is running now, until February 9th, 2025. It’s free and open to the public. Public parking is available nearby at the Market Square lot.
Check out the San Antonio Arts and Culture site for more info and events.
Interviews were edited for clarity.
Editor & Photographer: Nick Blevins
