October 6, 2023 to April 14, 2024
The National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum is pleased to present Into the Hourglass: Paño Arte from the Rudy Padilla Collection, an exhibition celebrating paños as an art form and the contributions of incarcerated artists to the broader fields of Chicano and American art. The exhibition features over 100 paños or pañuelos (Spanish for cloth or handkerchief) amassed by the late collector and community advocate, Rudy Padilla, as well as artworks by New Mexican artists whose work has been influenced by the style and visual vocabulary of paño arte.
The Rudy Padilla Paño Collection was acquired by the Art Museum at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in 2019 and it is the largest public collection of its kind in the United States. The artworks and archive are significant resources for understanding and celebrating an important form of artistic and cultural expression created by incarcerated (and formerly incarcerated) artists from Chicano and Latino Communities across the Southwest U.S. The exhibition, co-curated by Jadira Gurulé (NHCC Head Curator and Visual Arts Program Manager) and Rebecca Gomez (NHCC Curator), explores the interconnectedness of paño arte and Chicano and American art, honors the social and cultural legacy of Padilla’s work, and examines the topic of incarceration in contemporary society.
To learn more about the exhibition or share your experiences with paño arte, please email Rebecca.Gomez@dca.nm.gov