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Born in 1985 in San Antonio, Texas, Michael Menchaca (they/them) is a Xicanx, Mexican-American, Queer multidisciplinary visual artist. They studied at San Antonio College (Associate degree in Print Graphics, 2007) Texas State University (BFA, 2011) and the Rhode Island School of Design (MFA, 2015). They have received numerous awards, notably the Latinx Artist Fellowship in 2021 from the US Latinx Art Forum (USLAF), supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Their work has been featured in publications such as the San Antonio Express News, Hyperallergic, The New York Times, Artnet, The San Antonio Current, La Prensa, and The Brooklyn Rail. Menchaca’s works can be found in the permanent collections of The San Antonio Museum of Art, TX; McNay Art Museum, TX; The Blanton Museum of Art, TX; The Smithsonian American Art Museum, D.C.; U.S. Library of Congress, D.C.; The National Gallery of Art, D.C.; The Detroit Institute of Arts, MI; El Museo Del Barrio, NY; The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AR; and Princeton University Art Museum, NJ; among others. Menchaca is one-half of the artist collective Dos Xicanx.
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MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Type: Visual Arts
Artist Style: Visual Art: Contemporary, Narrative/Historical
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
My artworks can best be described as the product of my love of intricate ornamental forms found in ancient painted manuscripts crossed with my appreciation for the pixelated backdrops of 16-bit video games. I take inspiration from ancient Mesoamerican Codices, European Bestiaries, Catholic Baroque imagery, Mexican devotional paintings, textile arts, Japanese Video Games, and User-Interface (UI) designs. I criss-cross visual historical and geographical conventions in creative works presented in formats that converge at the intersection of print media, painting, video sculpture, photo collage, tile design, wallpaper design, digital animation, and new media installation.
I am honored to have public artworks located throughout San Antonio, most notably at the San Antonio International Airport and the San Pedro Creek Culture Park.
In 2017, I was commissioned by the San Antonio River Authority to create 16 original tile designs that are now installed and featured in Phase I.I of the San Pedro Creek Culture Park, as part of the City’s tricentennial events that opened in 2018. These tile designs were sent to a tile manufacturer that then created a hard-face stencil of the design in order to produce the tiles in varying colors. I designed the tiles for a series of park benches and park architecture for the San Pedro Creek Culture Park located in downtown San Antonio. My tile designs ManantiaI, 12 Generations, Culture Crossroads, Alameda Stripes, Agave Rhythms, Presidio, Margil Vine adorn these benches and surfaces along the San Antonio River.
I also worked collaboratively with Suzy González, Public Art San Antonio, and The City of San Antonio to create "¡Adelante San Antonio!", a large scale interior/exterior mural installed at the Consolidated Rental Car Facility (CONRAC) located at the San Antonio International Airport. On the exterior of the new CONRAC parking garage at the San Antonio International Airport hangs a two-piece exterior large format mural. On the interior, the Car Rental Facility features our collaborative 200 ft wide mural design inkjet printed onto a fabric mesh and stretched over aluminum frames. A large plexiglass/steel sculpture titled “La Ventana Rosada” hangs as a centerpiece for the Interior Mural.
My traditional works on paper can be found in the permanent collections at UTSA, The McNay Art Museum, and The San Antonio Museum of Art. Through maximalist imagery and coded symbolism, I try to visualize the intra-ethnic social aspects that characterize the Latinx experience across lines of class, caste, age, gender, race, nationality, neurodiversity, and ability within a hyper-mediated American landscape from the very specific perspective of a San Antonian.
