On the top floor of the Gundlach Building at the AKG Museum of Art in Buffalo, a large collection of works from 58 artists comes together. Let’s get together grandly. This impressive ensemble is both a survey of contemporary Latin painting and a lively dialogue between a range of artists with diverse backgrounds, experiences, identities, languages, and creative mediums.
Let’s get together grandly It is a large-scale exhibition that unfolded slowly over several years. Curator Andrea Alvarez was the architect and driving force behind the project, spending much of his time immersed in research and working closely with each artist throughout the process to perfect every detail of the exhibition.
The title of the exhibition alludes to the poem of the same name by former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera. The poem, which oscillates between English and Spanish while employing rich flora and fauna imagery, is itself—like the survey—a passionate celebration of community and the coming together of cultures. He wrote:
cielo de calor and wisdom come to greet us
Where we work hard
In the garden of our struggles and joys
Let us give our hearts, our aguila rises
free
The exhibition traces this poetic rhythm in the design of the space. Herrera’s stanzas greet visitors at each entrance and throughout the galleries, setting the tone and providing context for what lies ahead.
Although the exhibition is divided into seven themes, Alvarez emphasized its inherent fluidity, noting that even if the collection is rearranged, the exhibition will remain together. During the walkthrough, it became clear that space is central to the viewing experience, leaving room for visitors to engage with the works on their own terms, just as the exhibition’s primary focus is to gather and support free-flowing dialogue.
In Moises Salazar Tlatenchi’s “Cruising Queen,” a ship composed of five faceless figures and an American flag sails through icy waters. The figures wear powdered wigs and tricorn hats, reminiscent of 18th-century America. The artist’s captivating materials, and the presence of brown figures within this context, finished with a layer of dense glitter and a delicate crocheted lavender frame, subvert American history. ‘Cruise Queen’ placed in exhibition new history section, focusing on the retelling of personal, cultural and global history.
General readers may also recognize Eamon Ore-Giron’s mosaic abstraction in Talking Shit with Ilapa (Variation I), Guadalupe Maravilla’s mixed media techniques in Pipusa Retablo, and Fireelei Báez’s vibrant portraits filled with floral patterns in Mawu-Lisa (I Build My Language with Rocks). Known for deconstructing colonial structures in her work, Baez turns to the transatlantic slave trade, invoking the god Maurissa, a key figure in the culture and religion of the Fon people of West Africa, who were brought to the Caribbean by force.
Human body and figures represents another section of the exhibition that emphasizes “representation of and about marginalized people, considering the importance of the body and who does or does not appear in the images,” the catalog says. One of the works is an untitled triptych on canvas by Salomón Huerta. Since there are no concrete human subjects in the painting, visitors experience an intimate representation of the artist’s father.
“Huerta’s father protected the family in their home in Ramona Gardens, a violent housing project in East Los Angeles,” the museum label reads. “At night, he would place his .38 caliber revolver on his bedside table and ask Huerta to bring him a snack – usually a shell or a glass of milk.” The artist defied expectations of traditional portraiture, evoking a deep tenderness and human-centeredness without the body.
at the same time, let’s get together thrive This begs the question: How do identity and place shape each other? Los Angeles-based artist Alfonso Gonzalez Jr. turns to the rich visual language of signage. Inheriting the meticulous skills from his father’s career as a commercial sign painter, Gonzalez developed a lasting relationship with East Los Angeles’ iconic advertisements and billboards, which often reflected Chicano culture. In Abogados Tierra Caliente (Billboards), the artist emphasizes the intrinsic connection between the local landscape and the self. An interesting relationship emerges between public commercial objects, personal portraits and the museum itself.
Chicago’s Yvette Mayorga’s eye-catching pink work Self-Portrait of a Black-Haired Latina After Francois Boucher’s “Dark-Haired Odalisque” circa 1745 is plastered on the walls of the exhibition complex. pintux The work is described as “a contemporary Latin approach to traditional painting genres such as still life and portraiture.” The artist’s unique acrylic paint piping technique embodies themes of labor, femininity, and memory. Mayorga’s unconventional approach is an example of a new approach to portraiture and complements the artist’s recognition of Baroque and Rococo art.
This group of unconventional painting methods also includes other artists who have appeared on Colossal before, such as Sarah Zapata’s textile columns, made from hand-woven cloth and various fibers. Her structures lean against walls or protrude from ceilings, conveying a sense of instability—reflecting the current climate in which we live. Narciso Martinez also appears in the form of “Checkerleading the Crowd”, made with charcoal on his unique cardboard box background, evoking attention to labor.
In the exhibition’s anchor room, Patrick Martinez’s “Promised Land,” 16 feet across, evokes a sweeping landscape. Acrylic, neon, stucco, spray paint and ceramic tile are just some of the layers layered on top of each other in mixed media works. Martinez considers his hometown of Los Angeles and what “paradise” might look like in a changing cultural landscape marked by gentrification and financial marginalization. Abstract and faded structures, graffiti-inspired spray paint marks, and collages of archival family photos represent the passage of time and the constant act of reconstruction. “The Promised Land” is part of the exhibition land/terra section, which focuses on “Latin approaches to landscape and the built environment, reflections on land and land and its rapid change.”
Overall, this boundary-pushing exhibition blends conversation, medium, context and experience. The Caribbean and Latin American diaspora is complex, and each artist remains unique—resisting external flattening into a single identity. Let’s get together grandly is a celebration of contrasts and connections, and the necessary balance in the face of apparent division.
The exhibition will be on view through September 6, traveling to the Des Moines Art Center, the Phoenix Art Museum and the Frye Art Museum in Seattle. Public programming—symposiums, artist talks, a tour of poet Juan Felipe Herrera, and more—will accompany the exhibition, so keep an eye out for events on the museum’s website.
