@arte.galvan | isaacgalvan.org | Ek Balam | oil on canvas mounted on board, 8” x 8,” 2025 |
Pao en Teotihuacán | oil on canvas mounted on board, 8” x 8,” 2025 and w/in Palenque | oil on canvas mounted on board, 8” x 8,” 2025
ISAAC GALVÁN is a Mexican-American visual artist based in Chicago, known for his figurative & representational work. Through painting, drawing & an active sketchbook practice, he employs traditional media to create a rich archive of people, places & figure. His current artistic input concentrates on synthesizing traditional & non-traditional aesthetics, methodologies & cultures as a postcolonial BIPOC artist with a deep concentration on identity.
5 Questions
1. The journey my family took to get here to Chicago, is the typical migration narrative that goes back to the time of ancient Mesoamerican civilization, searching for home, searching for work & good living. Perhaps today it’s called the US, but I have to think of the mythical or real places that came before the US as motives to migrate as well; some places I can see are the archetypal places like Aztlan, Tamoanchan, or for others perhaps even Mictlan or Xibalba. It begins here I suppose, in search of a place where an ideal can be realized. My family migrated to Chicago in the 50’s & 60’s from what we call Mexico, searching an ideal.
2. It’s perhaps the deepest bond we have that’s understood without saying a word. The adversity, the challenges, life/death situations, those critical decisions that make or break us…it’s really deep & is perhaps the undercurrent of all that we do in life. I see how this not only is understood by my family or heritage, but others as well. That has a beautiful thread that links us at the fundamental level of being human. What’s really interesting to me, is how corn was bioengineered circa 10,000 years ago in the heart of Mesoamerica & how it migrated north & south into Canada & South America. Sharing food, at the heart of any family, & a food as simple as corn shared across 2 continents. Wild.
3. Home. Having family spread across the continent that once had the name of Anahuac, I have learned that perspectives have changed tremendously. Once you broaden your perspective from the provincial to the universal, consciousness expands as well & knowing that, one must act accordingly. Home can be everywhere if you dig deep enough.
4. It sounds funny, but it’s alive everywhere & everyday, the tension. The tension comes from being aware that I am not in communication or thinking in my ancestral native tongue & that I am a participant in this dark American fantasy. Im pretty hard on myself, but the proverbial phrase, “Be in the world, but not of it,” holds me steady in the daily grind. I try not to think about it too much, but when I do, I remember my ancestors & consider the adversities we’ve faced for half a millennia; then, suddenly, I am ready because I have survived!
5. Hope? I can say I pray we wake up & realize what has been erased during the nightmare we call history. Perhaps the dreams I am building
Butterfly Effect: Bridging Borders Exhibiting Artists
Aileen Nicole Castro • Akira – Light that Heals • Alejandra Lemus • Alex Covarrubias – Red Cave • Anna Silvonchik • Arte Duran • Bane.xxa • Christian Joshua Varela Solis • Cindy Uriostegui – Cattco • Cristina Marquez • Elena Diadenko • Elena Pach • EMNI • Gabriel Guzman • Grecia Solorio • Idil Duman • Isaac Galvan • Janis Appleton* • Javier Viñuela*• Kaltra • Kybo • Mariana Perez • Mary Antar • Pamela Rubi Trejo Soria • Peauxline • raqui • Riesling Dong • Rocio “Chio” Cabrera-Coz • Sailee Charlu • Shalala Salamzadeh • Sharvani Rathna Chittem* • Stef Skills • Victoria Park • *Group collaboration