Josephine Clark (left) and Adira Castillo, organizers of the “No Puedo Imaginar Mi Vida Sin Ti” show at the CU Experience Gallery, stand in downtown’s Performing Arts Complex. May 8, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
An explosion of bright yellow, cherry pink and lime green paper flowers help frame a painting of Arlette Lucero’s loved ones, from her late husband Stevon Lucero to beloved tattoo artist Alicia Cardenas.
The adjacent memory photo wall, adorned with papel picado, is part of Lucero’s “Those That Have Passed in 2021” installation that began as a Dia De Los Muertos-inspired piece.
“These are people I knew very well. Some of them were extremely close friends,” Lucero said.
Lucero is part of a bill of Chicano artists invited by two CU Denver undergraduate students with specific interests in the importance of platonic love and friendship from a Chicano perspective.
The show, “No Puedo Imaginar Mi Vida Sin Ti,” will be on display at CU Denver’s Experience Gallery through June 30.
A gallery dedicated to cultivating students
Josephine Clark and Adira Castillo are each developing their undergraduate theses, one on depictions of friendship in Western Art and the other on Chicano artwork.
Together, the two have worked on this show since February with the guidance of gallery director Jeff Lambson.
“[Lambson] presented this opportunity to us with his guidance,” Clark said. “To have this opportunity in a professional gallery setting … we’re in the heart of downtown … it’s huge.”
The Experience Gallery space, tucked underneath a set of stairs at the Denver Performing Arts Complex and across from the entrance to the Buell Theatre, helps give curatorial experience to CU Denver students.
“These artists spoke to me so much in their work and the way that they represented their livelihoods and community,” Castillo said. “I’m Chicano myself, so it’s really amazing to be able to highlight Chicano artists within Denver.”
Chicano artists were inspired by ancestors and community
Featured artists in the show include Lucero, Armando Geneyro, Oswaldo Cepeda, Cal Duran, Pico del Hierro-Villa and Cherish Marquez.
Corn roots hang from the ceiling and woven God’s eyes, or Ojo de Dios, have helped artists like Duran both explore and meditate on artists from the past.
“Art was a way for me to connect to my lineage and my ancestors,” Duran said. “I believe all of our ancestors are inside our blood helping us create.”
Denver photographer Armando Geneyro debuted an image titled, “Sin Ti” or “Without You.”
“We knew he didn’t have a lot of time left and we wanted to get one last portrait session with the family,” Geneyro said.
The center hand is of Jose Angel Jimenez, also known as Tanque, which means tank in Spanish. Cradled by the hands of Tanque’s loved ones, the image honors the life of a man who lived 37 years with only one arm after losing the other to a cancer diagnosis in 1982.
Invited by Clark and Castillo to be part of the show, Geneyro knew this image would fit a show dedicated to showcasing the heart of Chicano families, the treasures of platonic love and the elements of spirituality, depicted by the cross tattoo on Tanque’s middle finger, that “we lean on as Chicanos.”
“He did things that most of us probably can’t do with two arms,” Geneyro said. “But he needed that support from his family all those years to be that strong for them.”
Above the image’s black frame, Geneyro left a toy tank, a nickname that Jimenez carried since childhood and a testament to the “indestructibility” of a loved one.
“We live in such an individualized society right now,” Castillo said. “I hope that when they come in here they recognize that community and friendship is so important.”
