CSULB Printmaking MFA Alum Alvaro Márquez wins award at El Segundo Museum of Art

CSULB MFA Printmaking alum Alvaro Márquez has won an award from El Segundo Museum of Art. The ESMoA Experience Award was given to Márquez in conjunction with the exhibition entitled FREESTATE, which will run from October 3, 2020 through February 2021. For the exhibition the artist has created artworks, one entitled Seeds of Hope: The Past is the Future (2020) which the artist reminds us, “…that our relationship to the land and each other is rooted in a history that dates back to the colonial encounter, when Indigenous ‘Others’ and the natural environment were seen as something to be dominated and controlled. How we treat each other, the land, and the natural environment are all interconnected. If FREESTATEasks us to imagine a California that has become an independent republic, I ask viewers to first contend with our complicated colonial history.” The other artwork is Questions for the Settler State (2020) which is Márquez writes, “Using an archival map of the Indigenous settlements in what we now call Los Angeles during the Portola Expedition of 1769, this piece asks us to consider the implications of building a state on unceded Indigenous land.” Powerful questions beautifully rendered and needed more than ever.

Congratulations Mr. Márquez on the award and amazing work!