Come one, come all to El Circo exhibition by two visual artists Xavier and Maria Cristina Tavera. The show is based on the Latino community’s long history of appreciation for the circus and street performances. The exhibit El Circo highlights similarities between the circus and occurrences in everyday life.
New Works by Xavier Tavera for El Circo are a series of portraits of Latinos whose lives resemble circus performers. The photographs explore how the circus sustains the spectacle and entertainment elements through a range of characters and social outcasts. For this project, the narrative is strengthened by Xavier’s laborious creation of environments. Design and construction of original circus sets serve as backdrops for the portraits.
Maria Cristina Tavera’s paintings for El Circo reflect how the realm of the circus has always symbolized several different and often conflicting ideas: the performers demonstrate a cooperative, communal, and familial environment, while this nonconformist lifestyle requires being competitive, enduring self-sacrifice, and often subjecting oneself to painstaking routines or humiliation.
The opening will include theatrical performances by local Latino circus performers: El Barrilito clown (Anselmo Cornejo), and Sinjun the Contortionist.
Free and open to the public. Please note that some content may not be suitable for children. Special thanks to the Minnesota State Arts Board.
