Juan de Dios Mora presents "¡A Darle!” at the MET

Juan de Dios Mora, Montando a la Escoba Voladora (Riding the Flying Broom), 2010, linocut, image: 17 × 26 in. (43.2 × 66 cm) sheet: 221⁄2 × 297⁄8 in. (57.2 × 75.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, 2019.35.2, ©2019, Juan de Dios Mora

Juan de Dios Mora, Ya Mero Llego (Almost There), 2019, linocut on paper, sheet: 15 in. × 411⁄4 in. (38.1 × 104.8 cm) image: 12 in. × 383⁄4 in. (30.5 × 98.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, 2019.35.1, ©2019, Juan de Dios Mora

The Museum of East Texas is thrilled to welcome Juan de Dios Mora to our Discoveroom Gallery on September 9, 2023. He will give a talk and printmaking demonstration on September 9 beginning at 3 p.m., kicking off our Museum's grand re-opening event. This event is open to the public and free of charge. We hope to see you there! His exhibition, "¡A Darle!” (which is "Get a Move On!" in English) will be on display through January 6, 2024.

Artist Bio: Juan de Dios Mora was born in Yahualica, Mexico. In 1998, his family immigrated to the United States. In 2009, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Painting and a Master of Fine Arts specializing in Printmaking in 2011. He acquired both degrees from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). To this day, he is working in the art department at UTSA as an Assistant Professor of art. Mora concentrates in the printmaking technique of relief to create narratives of Mexican-American experiences. His experiences living along the border (US and Mexico) provide an awaking of social and political concepts that heavily influence his artistic, aesthetic and conceptual ideas. Mora has been included in exhibitions across United States, Mexico, and Japan. Venues featuring his work are: McNay Museum; National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL; El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX; Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez, Mexico; and Kyoto Municipal Museum, Japan. Institutions that have acquired his work include: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, OR; McNay Museum, San Antonio, TX; University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, HI; National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL; The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.

Artist Statement: I have lived in a border town (Laredo, TX) where different cultures clash and yet expressions and emotions coalesce. However here in the US, its traditions, racism, and stereotypes have introduced me to the reality of being an immigrant in a different country.

Working representationally and sometimes with the surreal I portray images of the typical Mexican-American’s life, iconography, and beliefs. My objective is to bring people together, with sentimental, satirical, sarcastic, and comical themes. I hope to evoke self-awareness and then to superimpose that awareness on the experiences of life.

For more information about this artist, please visit his website at: juandediosmoraart.com