Artpace San Antonio isn’t skirting around contemporary problems — graffiti, drug-trafficking and shootings — with its Contemporary Art Month exhibition, New Works: 08.2.

Mexican artist Marcos Ramírez ERRE (left) works with Artpace studio director Riley Robinson on the film ‘The Black Suburban,’ to premiere on July 10 as part of his Artpace exhibition, ‘The Body of Crime.’

Artpace International Artists-in-Residence Mark Bradford of Los Angeles, William Cordova of Houston and Marcos Ramírez ERRE of Tijuana, Mexico, have sunk their teeth into the area’s creative substance.

The artists have been living in San Antonio for about six weeks and have responded to the new environment in their own style. Artpace will debut their latest creations on Thursday, July 10, said Celina Bustamante Emery, manager of public affairs and special events for Artpace.

The artists “have been living here and working and responding to the local culture,” Emery said.
ERRE has crafted a nine-minute film called “The Black Suburban,” in which he plays each of the three roles central to the plot: a drug-trafficker, a gunman who shoots the drug-trafficker and a police officer who investigates the scene, Emery said. The film is set in Northern Mexico but was filmed on a ranch just outside San Antonio. The Chevrolet Suburban that was shot in the film will be on display in the gallery as well.

“It’s sort of humanizing all these roles and equates that we could find ourselves in these positions,” Emery said of the film.

Bradford is creating a painting dealing with the architecture of the San Antonio Independent School District Leadership Training Center. Bradford is replicating the building’s tile pattern by painting over collaged newspapers and sanding some portions so the paper shows through, Emery said. The work will cover an entire wall of the gallery.

While Cordova has been more secretive about his work-in-progress, Emery said one piece involves a sculpture crafted from a stack of vinyl records that reaches from floor to ceiling; another includes a vehicle.

“Installed in his space is a half of a Chevrolet Caprice, and he’s converting it into a living space with beautiful cabinets and paneling and appliances,” Emery said. “He deals a lot with the urban environment, and I think he was going to have some graffiti tags included.”

With so many large-scale pieces, including vehicles, Emery said she has one thing for which to be thankful: “It comes in handy that we are housed in a former car dealership.”

Jennifer Lloyd | 210SA