From 1987 to 1989, an exhibition entitled “Hispanic Art in the US” toured important US museums including the Corcoran, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum. The first major museum exhibition to survey in depth the work of contemporary American artists of Hispanic origin, the show's main premise was that a powerful, unifying commonality exists amid the diverse background of nationalities, histories and cultures that make up Hispanic America.  The NY Times review called the premise “intriguing” and “not an easy one to make” given the diversity of nationalities and cultures that make up Hispanic America.

 

The argument the curators made is that these artists “share a mythic landscape of gestures and images, a predilection toward the figurative, and common antecedents such as the Mexican painters David Siqueiros, Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo” that reflect a common language which is ''Anglo, yet tenaciously Hispanic.'' 

 

That exhibition, plus our gallery’s genesis in art of the Southwest, inspired us to bring the works of many of these artists to our Soho gallery beginning in the late 1980’s.  This catalog of works of artists exhibited by J.Cacciola Gallery over the years demonstrates the diversity yet commonalities in the art of artists ranging from Chicano artists in Texas border towns to the santeros of Northern New Mexico.

​

Download the digital catalog for information on the artists.