About the Exhibition

Curated by Dr. Emmanuel Ortega, Marilynn Thoma Scholar and Assistant Professor in Art of the Spanish Americas at UIC, Contemporary Ex-Votos is the first exhibition to pair historic ex-votos with new works by contemporary Latinx artists. Painted on tin and other found materials, ex-votos are small and vivid devotional paintings that tell the story of a miracle. Painted by unknown everyday people, often indigenized artists, these ex-votos were displayed in sanctuaries and other communal contact zones across Mexico. Like many works in the Hull-House collection, ex- votos blur art historical distinctions between fine art and craft. Their position as neither fine art objects nor historic(al) document assigns them to a fixed place as “curious” and “naive” objects of the past. This exhibition rethinks ex-votos outside these categories and proposes instead an understanding that unleashes their potentiality in the study of Mexican daily life and a renewed artistic worth.

The historic 19th and 20th-century ex-votos on view here are from the permanent art collection of the New Mexico State University (NMSU) University Art Museum. At the larger exhibition at UIC Gallery 400, thirteen contemporary Latinx artists responded to the NMSU collection. These artists expanded upon the genre through considerations of scale, medium, and disparate approaches to contemporary devotion. The contemporary works of Contemporary Ex-Votos are presented at UIC Gallery 400, here on the UIC campus at 400 S. Peoria St.

The full presentation of the exhibition across UIC Gallery 400 and the Jane Addams Hull- House Museum create space for the contemplation of themes that link the past with the present, including devotion, healing, women, resilience, and place.

Featured artists at Gallery 400: Justin Favela, Eric J. García, Francisco Guevara, Dan45 Hernandez, Juan Molina Hernández, John Jota Leaños, Guadalupe Maravilla, Yvette Mayorga, Daisy Quezada Ureña, Krystal Ramirez, Sandy Rodriguez, Xochi Solis, José Villalobos