Paneles / Panales

Honored to be the featured artist for Latinos in Architecture's celebration of Piñata Festival as part of the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center's Dia De Los Muertos programing. I have been commissioned to create a new installation in response to the ESB-MACC's architecture and mission. Here is rendering of the proposal and description of the work. Click here for more information about the festival and Latinos in Architecture.

In Paneles/Panales, Michael Anthony García references both solar panels, in this case angled downwards to be "charged" by the community viewers below and artificial honeycombs, liking the extinction of the bees to the vanishing People of Color in Austin. The installation also alludes to the cyclical give and take necessary in institutions and their communities. In addition, the work is site-specific in nature, both as a response to the cultural programing and architectural elements of the ESB-MACC. Other visual and material references in Paneles/Panales are papel picado, and lace as an abstracted element of La Catrina, the iconic figure for Day of the Dead who was a developed as a critique of Mexicans at the time who were taking on characteristics of the aristocracy. Just as piñatas invite us to commune together, look upward and share of ourselves in celebration, so does García's Paneles/Panales.