 Day With(out) Art 2023: Everyone I Know Is Sick
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2023 at 7 PM
Oak Cliff Cultural Center is proud to partner with Visual AIDS for Day With(out) Art 2023 by presenting Everyone I Know Is Sick, a program of five videos generating connections between HIV and other forms of illness and disability.
The program features newly commissioned work by Dorothy Cheung (Hong Kong), Hiura Fernandes & Lili Nascimento (Brazil), Beau Gomez (Canada/Philippines), Dolissa Medina & Ananias P. Soria (USA), and Kurt Weston (USA).
Inspired by a statement from Cyrée Jarelle Johnson in the book Black Futures, Everyone I Know Is Sick examines how our society excludes disabled and sick people by upholding a false dichotomy of health and sickness. Inviting us to understand disability as a common experience rather than an exception to the norm, the program highlights a range of experiences spanning HIV, COVID, mental health, and aging. The commissioned artists foreground the knowledge and expertise of disabled and sick people in a world still grappling with multiple ongoing pandemics.
Tamera Garrett (featured in Here We Are: Voices of Black Women Who Live with HIV) will introduce the Day With(out) Art 2023 film series Everyone I Know is Sick, and a mobile STD testing station by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation will be in front. Refreshments will be served.
Visual AIDS is a New York-based non-profit that utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.
Photo by Dolissa Medina and Ananias P. Soria, Viejito/Enfermito/Grito (Old Man/Sick Man/Shout), 2023. Commissioned by Visual AIDS for Everyone I Know Is Sick.
 Jose Vargas
Retro - Matico Tres
December 9, 2023 – January 12, 2024
Reception: December 9, 6 – 8 pm
Spanning five decades, Retro-Matico Tres features six unique bodies of artwork by Vargas, highlighting his commitment to art making in a variety of media and the many influences on the style and content of his work. Encouraged to make art from a young age, Vargas’ pulls from everyday life experiences, musical influences, Mexican culture, and what he calls “mini visions” for his work. Vargas states, “Art, like music, can be healing. It is a luxury to create art, just for the fun of it. For the pure satisfaction of self-expression. If we do not create art, then in turn we are not being true to ourselves.” This sentiment is evident in the boundlessness of his artistic practice and the wide variety of artworks exhibited in Retro-Matico Tres.
From his “Twang” series featuring a skeletal character who embodies the life of a musician to his “Green Mask” series which explores the idea of hiding behind a mask, Vargas moves fluidly between series with often more than one piece in progress. Not just a skilled painter, Retro-Matico Tres will also feature his photographic work which is equally eclectic in technique and content incorporating collage, digital editing, and vintage imagery from his personal life.
Vargas is an active visual artist who works in photography, prints, painting, and mixed media. Since 1992, he has participated in over 170 exhibitions in multiple art venues. As an artist and curator, Vargas has collaborated with numerous art organizations. In 2015 he started an art exchange program with La Galería de la Misión de Senecú, an art gallery and museum in El Paso, Texas. In addition to his art practice Jose Vargas has been curating art exhibitions for over thirty years in Dallas including the annual "El Corazón" and "La Virgen de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe)” shows. Vargas served as the Gallery Coordinator at the Ice House Cultural Center in Oak Cliff. Presently, he provides gallery assistance at the Bath House Cultural Center and the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas, Texas.
Oak Cliff Cultural Center
223 W. Jefferson Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75208
Hours:
Tuesday - Saturday
12 PM - 6 PM
Phone: 214-670-3777
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