Juan Chawuk: Iridiscencia Cultural

The Mexican Cultural Center DuPage is pleased to present our latest exhibit Juan Chawuk: Iridiscencia Cultural, which will open with a reception on Friday, October 7th from 6-8pm and run through January 28, 2023. Juan Chawuk’s work has been on display in West Chicago through public artworks and artist-in-residency projects since 2015. With this latest exhibit Juan Chawuk invites viewers to experience his home city of Chiapas, Mexico through paintings, photography, sculptures and murals. As part of an ongoing series, this work shines light on the multicultural citizens of Chiapas, how they’ve coexisted for centuries, and how conflict there has fostered new ways of creating.

As an indigenous Maya Tojobal artist, Chawuk’s photographs show how cultures fuse together a shared iconography including some imposed by outside cultures with what remains from traditions of the past — including from the land’s ancient cultures. These icons generate dialogue and reflect emotional colors and shapes, leading to surprises. The series of small paintings are more mythical with a touch of the magical realism often linked with Latin American art and literature. Featuring live models and jungle animals, the paintings’ brushstrokes suggest the magnificent handicrafts of the Chiapas region. And the sculpture is made of mud and fibers from the jungle that the Lacandones people once used for tunics. This piece encourages viewers to experience the Chiapas cultures and their nature.
Chawuk’s interpretations transform perceptions of Chiapas and allow viewers to experience the creative iridescence (a reflection of various colors, similar to a rainbow) that his senses capture in these works.

The exhibit was originally curated by Arte Mexicano en Indiana is a partnership with the international Mexican Cultural Art Alliance (MCAA), a group of Mexican and Mexican-American arts administrators started by Carlos Tortolero, founder of the National Museum of Mexican Art. The Mexican Cultural Center DuPage is a founding member of the MCAA.