The Gallery at UT Arlington presents Cabrera/Hassell Exhibition

The Gallery at University of Texas at Arlington is pleased to present a two-person exhibition of work by Margarita Cabrera and Billy Hassell. The exhibition opens Monday, January 22 and runs through Saturday, March 3, 2007.  There will be an opening reception from 6 – 8:30 pm on Friday, January 26 with both artists giving brief gallery talks beginning at 6:30 pm that evening.

Margarita Cabrera, who was born in Monterrey, Mexico and resides in El Paso, TX, has gained national recognition for soft sculptures created in her signature medium of hand-sewn vinyl and other fabrics. Desert plants, immigrants’ backpacks, bicycles, everyday appliances such as blenders and toasters and even a pyramid of “Hummers” are all painstakingly constructed and stitched together from used border guard uniforms and vinyl. Recently reviewed by Art in America magazine, Ms. Cabrera's work poignantly references the political and economic issues associated with the maquiladoras (multinational assembly plants near the U.S/Mexico border), illegal immigration and the use of migrant labor.

Well-known Ft. Worth artist, Billy Hassell’s vibrantly colored oil paintings of nature imagery set amidst swirling organic backgrounds are visually compelling and conceptually thought-provoking. His current body of work is the result of a new and evolving process for him that has culminated in a series of 4’ x 4’ mixed media on panel pieces. The paintings start out as cut out images of animals and plants adhered to panel. The collage elements are then pushed and abstracted with layers of paint to examine the fragility of the environment and its relationship to our lives. Curator Benito Huerta comments that the work has “a deceptively naïve surface appearance that belies the conceptual sophistication they possess.”