Un/Popular Art features an array of sculptures, paintings, textiles, toys, and ceramics produced in Latin America and the Caribbean that have historically been understood within the realm of “folk art,” or arte popular. Encompassing a breathtaking scope of geographical regions and cultures, this exhibition includes works from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by artists from Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Haiti. The artworks range from the quotidian to the spectacular, including toy truck rattles and tiny figurines of food vendors as well as large-scale wedding tapestries and intricate yarn paintings depicting the cosmological forces of nature. Frequently relegated to the categories of “folk,” “naive,” “kitsch,” or artesanía, the artworks in this exhibition defy these limiting labels. Instead, we invite visitors to understand these objects as dynamic and transcendent, expressing deeply rooted cultural belief systems, practices, and cosmologies of their place of origin. We also resist the ahistorical frameworks through which “popular art” is often presented in exhibition spaces, mirroring what we call the “Mexican restaurant aesthetic,” with no distinction between medium, place of origin, or function. We offer ample breathing room for the pieces and experiment with new ways of displaying these objects, from a suspended baby Jesus to a special devotional space for the Guatemalan ritual figure Maximón. This exhibition is divided into four sections: Colonization, Modernity, Craft, and Worldmaking. Each of which build on and overlap with each other for a multifaceted presentation of the extraordinary artistic traditions of Latin American and Caribbean artisans during a period of momentous historical transformation.
On view on the UT Dallas campus.