Cr-ICE-is
Angel Cabrales
Friday, September 5, 2025 – Sunday, October 12, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, September 5, 2025 | 6-9pm | Free-To-Attend
Presented in Black Box
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
I grew up on movies like Star Wars and Star Trek, books by Philip K. Dick and Asimov and comic books by Marvel and DC. I loved the idea of the technological advancement of humanity and the powerful social and political commentary the works had within them.
It was through these imaginative worlds of aliens, robots or the distant future that taught me a way to lowered one’s defenses, taking sensitive topics and creating a new avenue of discourse, without public backlash. It felt like the farther ahead in time or distance of the world, the easier it was to take in the commentary.
I remember reading 1984 and Brave New World and thinking of the message they held on totalitarian and capitalistic dystopias. It was easier to think about the situations because of their distance and differences, it was more of a warning of a world that could be if we did not take care.
Movies like They Live made me think of Reaganomics using an alien invasion. Star Trek made me dream of a world where everyone advanced not though a monetary greed but through scientific and cultural curiosity. All in all, it made me a dreamer, envisioning a benevolent humane world.
It is through these thoughts that I present Cr-ICE-is: Liberty is not safe if we accept the growth of consolidated authority.
A response to the ever-growing issues in the dehumanization of minorities, the consolidation of executive power, the militarization of the Mexican American Border, immigration and the misconceptions created by political and media rhetoric through a satirical video installation in a B-movie, Mexpliotation, Tequila Sci Fi format.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Angel Cabrales, MFA. Multimedia artist, associate professor of Sculpture at the University of Texas at El Paso.
His work examines aspects of Latinx identity, immigration, inequality and parts of American histories and culture that is misconstrued because of political and media rhetoric. Cabrales views everything as a potential artistic resource providing him with a flexibility to utilize a variety of mediums and styles. He merges media with intangible elements, such as his upbringing within the storied scientific history of New Mexico and political realities of the Texas borderlands. The creation and engineering in his work creates an interactive experience that merges art with modern technologies and the socio-political concerns of today.
Cabrales is part of the Smithsonian Museum's Estrellas y Cuentas initiative on Latinx Futurism, an artist in residence at the Vox Populi in Philadelphia, an artist fellow for the Looking for America project in Washington D.C., member of the International Sculpture Center, Philadelphia Sculptors, the JUNTOS art collective, board member of the Texas Sculpture Group and president of the non- profit Rayènari, with the mission to bring more STEAM education, events and workshops to the local community of the borderlands.
Angel was a guest speaker for the U.S. State Department’s Hispanic Leadership Initiative in January 2025 and is featured in Southwest Contemporary Magazine’s 2024 issue on Radical Futures, Chamisa Volume 3 2024 by the University of New Mexico, the Icons and Symbols of the Borderland book by Diana Molina and La Frontera: Artists along the Mexican/American Border by Stefan Falke.
Cabrales exhibits internationally and nationally, notably, the In Pursuit: An Artist’s Perspective on a Nation at the National Liberty Museum, the traveling shows, Soy de Tejas and Icons and Symbols and The United States and Mexico: A Powerful Past, A Shared Future by Art in Embassies in Mexico City.
