Alejandro Macias (The Land Within Us)

A triptych of three graphite pieces. Each is a silhouette of a person. Inside the first silhouette is a cityscape. Inside the second and third are desert landscapes.

Tell us more about yourself. What is your background?

I was born and raised in Brownsville, Texas, along the U.S./ Mexico border. I received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2008, and a Master of Fine Arts in 2-D Studio Art from the University of Texas - Pan American in 2012.

Since 2016 I’ve been the recipient of numerous residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Chateau d’Orquevaux in Orquevaux, France, The Studios at MASS MoCA, and the forthcoming Wassaic Project in Wassaic, NY. I was recently featured in the West Issue #156 of New American Paintings, juried by Lauren R. O’Connell, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and participated in recent group exhibitions at the Visual Arts Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Mexic-Arte Museum, Rockport Center for the Arts, Carlsbad Museum of Art, and Amarillo Museum of Art. I’ve held solo exhibitions at Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Presa House Gallery, and Tucson Museum of Art. I currently serve as an Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at the University of Arizona School of Art in Tucson, AZ. 

How would you describe your art practice in three words?

Curious and meditative

What is your favorite art medium to work with?

I’m primarily a figure painter that works with oil, acrylic, graphite on paper, canvas, and panel.  I often work on trying to combine these materials together and play with surface. Lately, I’ve been cutting through my support as a way to reinforce my conceptual ideas responding to Mexican-American identity and my own socio-political trepidation. I’ve also only begun incorporating video to my two-dimensional paintings. 

Please tell us about the artwork you are showing in The Land Within Us?

The work was produced to document the many physical and sociological barriers migrants face. This includes the Arizona desert, the Rio Grande that separates Texas and Mexico, and the policies and institutions in place that stretch across the U.S./ Mexico border. I empathize with the migrant’s journey to seek a better place. This work acts a triptych of migrants who have met their demise near different state lines across the border, whether they fall prey to the elements, the landscape, or border patrol custody. Having been born in this country as a second generation Mexican-American, I’m in a privileged position to talk about the issues that matter most to me. I hope that my work serves as a reminder that we are all living our lives under different circumstances, and many of us desire to find peace and a much more fruitful future.  

Are you working on anything new that we should know about? What’s next?
Where can we find more of your artwork online?

I’m constantly working and trying to push my own practice, and still responding to the border and how it acts as a cultural and physical eraser. I was recently featured on New American Paintings, and I have an upcoming two-person show at Presa House Gallery in San Antonio, TX, which I’m excited about. You can find my work at alexmaciasart.com and my Instagram handle is @alex.macias.art. 

A man with a beard looks directly at the camera. He wears a dark suit jacket. The background is split in two- half is a colorful painting, the other half is a brick wall.