Bihl Haus Arts will host an opening reception for “American History Does Not Begin with the White Man: Indigenous Themes in the Work of Mel Casas” by guest curator Ruben Cordova.The reception includes poolside flamenco and Latin jazz by Randy Cordero.

The exhibition, which continues through Oct. 27, is comprised entirely of works in the collection of the Mel Casas Trust managed by his heirs. Several works will be 6-feet by 8-feet paintings from the famed “Humanscape” cycle. The balance will be small paintings completed after the “Humanscape” series ended.

Most of these smaller, lesser-known paintings have not been exhibited in decades, notes guest curator Ruben Cordova. “They will make a powerful, critical exhibition, touching on debates surrounding the colonial nature of San Antonio’s history reflected in current Tricentennial celebrations,” he said.

Mel Casas (1929-2014) is considered one of the most important painters in Texas in the second half of the 20th century. He was an artist of national and international renown, as well as an important leader, theoretician, teacher, mentor, and administrator. He served as the first president and leading spokesperson for the San Antonio-based Con Safo art group, considered by many to be one of the most significant Chicano art groups in the ‘70s.

An El Paso native, Casas also taught at San Antonio College for 29 years and was the chair of the Visual Arts Department for 12 of those years. He received his BA from Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso) in 1956 and his MFA from the University of the Americas in 1958. He is best known for a series of 6-foot by 8-foot paintings he called Humanscapes.

The Humanscape series had its origin in 1965 when Casas drove past the San Pedro drive-in cinema in San Antonio. As he glimpsed up at the screen, he beheld a close-up shot of a woman speaking. From his distant perspective, her giant head appeared to be “munching” on trees in the adjacent landscape. This experience of divergent realities inspired 150 numbered Humanscapes that were painted between 1965 and 1989.

The Vietnam War and the policies of President Richard Nixon were primary catalysts for the social unrest of the 1960s and 1970s. Casas was a disabled Korean War veteran who was vehemently anti-war and anti-Nixon, and these antipathies served as inspiration for several paintings. While many of the paintings in this exhibition deal primarily with national issues including militarism and war, the United Farm Workers movement, and the assassination of political leaders, they also touch on local traditions, such as Fiesta in San Antonio, and international issues, such as the policy of apartheid in South Africa.

Ruben Cordova holds a BA from Brown University (Semiotics) and a PhD from UC Berkeley (History of Art), where he received the McInerny Fellowship for Innovation in Teaching. He has taught courses in art history (including Mexican and Chicano art), film, and museum Studies at UC Berkeley, UT Pan American, UT San Antonio, Sarah Lawrence College, and the University of Houston.

Cordova has curated or co-curated 29 exhibitions at museums and galleries featuring Latin American, Mexican, Latino, and Chicano art. He is currently a consultant for Public Art San Antonio, working on procuring art for the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, as well as writing interpretive texts for labels and a related publication.  Cordova has lectured extensively and has organized many exhibition panels, discussions, and gallery talks. Recent major exhibitions include three exhibitions that served as a comprehensive retrospective devoted to Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz in 2017; Roberto Gonzalez’s “Sacred Waters” in 2016; and four concurrent retrospective exhibitions of Mel Casas’ Humanscapes in 2015.

Gallery hours are 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. 210-383-9723 www.bihlhausarts.org

Related Events:

• Pre-Columbus Day Gallery talk with guest curator Ruben Cordova: 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6
• Poetry Reading by Anthony The Poet: 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20