Artistic resilience: Exhibition showcases artists who remained creative during pandemic
Jun. 22—The pandemic created many challenges including our ability to appreciate the arts.
Artists had to come up with clever ways to showcase their art when in-person gallery viewings were not an option. The South Broadway Cultural Center was forced to cancel an art reception an hour before it was scheduled to start when the initial shutdown was enforced by the state in 2020. The city's Department of Arts & Culture's Public Art Urban Enhancement division took to YouTube to showcase exhibits.
Augustine Romero, curator at the South Broadway Cultural Center, has put together an art show that reflects on the resilience of local artists during the pandemic shutdown.
"The Post Covid Bomb" features a diverse collection by more than 30 artists who exhibited their work between 2020 and 2023. The exhibition is comprised of previously displayed and new works that will on view through Aug. 17 at the South Broadway Cultural Center, 1025 Broadway Blvd. SE. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. More information can be found at cabq.gov/artsculture/public-art/satellite-galleries.
"I thought it would be a good way to revisit some of the artists' work, because during that time period, people weren't really looking at art," Romero said. "Things are changing right now and people are out and about a bit more. So, it made sense just to come back and revisit some previous works or give the opportunity for some of those artists to create something new."
Romero wanted to include more art pieces in the exhibition, but space is limited in the gallery at the center. He narrowed down the collection to interesting pieces of various styles and content.
"It's a good range of mediums," he explained. "There's some oil on canvas, acrylic on canvas. There's some works on cardboard, there's some bronze works. There's just a good range of materials. There's some aerosol art. There's just a good range of the community."
Romero created the collection from a wide range of artists who come with their own unique influences.
"This show is kind of a reflection of that and the mediums also contribute to the methods," he explained.
The South Broadway Cultural Center is historically a community space that was organized and built for and by the community, Romero said.
"So, I tend to honor those artists and that history of regional artists in a sense," he explained.
Romero said the show is an effort to create another opportunity for some of the artists that were showing during COVID and for people who were unable to visit the gallery.
"The selected artists are just revisiting the space," Romero said. "(It is) an opportunity to share their work in a time that people are getting out more frequently now that the lockdowns over."
The name of the exhibition is a play on words related to COVID and the artists' talents.
"The idea of 'The Post Covid Bomb' was, you know, when COVID did hit, it was like somebody dropped a bomb on us," Romero said. "And also, the word 'bomb' also plays on the contemporary context of something really hip, you know, 'It's the bomb.' "
