Visitors are invited to take on a surrealistic experience with a walk through “Imagined Worlds: Exploring the Carlos Melguizo Collection”, curated by Elena Macias, opening at the International Museum of Art & Science (IMAS) on Saturday, September 18, 2021. “Imagined Worlds” will be on exhibit in the Clark Family Gallery through February 27, 2022.
“Imagined Worlds: Exploring the Carlos Melguizo Collection” assembles and chronicles some of the visions of mankind’s realities, delights and dreams. Philanthropist, art collector and artist, Carlos Melguizo has brought together for this exhibition his own creative works and a selection from his impressive art collection. Included in the collection are work from artists including Sandra Urie, Luis Sottil, Jose Luis Rodriguez Guerra, Gabriel Garza, Thom Rauchfuss among others. Guest curator, Elena Macias, is the Associate Dean of the UTRGV College of Fine Arts and curator of the URTGV permanent art collection. “Museums provide the ideal space for a dialogue across ages and cultures,” stated Macias. “We all have strange dreams, nightmares, or beautiful, fantastic ones,” which makes surrealist art accessible to audiences of all ages.
It was a visit to an exhibition of works by the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali that sparked Carlos’s passion for owning fine art. Important works from the Surrealist and also Magic Realism movements have a clear presence throughout the collection. Surrealism aimed to re-shape the interpretation of the human experience by rejecting a rational vision of life in favor of one that asserted the value of the individual’s unconscious and dream states. The term “surrealist” originates in a play written in 1903 by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire entitled The Breast of Tiresias. However, Surrealism was officially defined by Andre Breton, leader of a new group of poets and artists in Paris, in his Surrealist Manifesto of 1924.
A special IMAS member preview reception will be held on Thursday, September 16, 2021, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the museum. Registration is required for this limited capacity event and IMAS members may reserve their ticket(s) online at https://theimasonline.org/imagined-worlds or by visiting or calling the IMAS at 956-681-2800 during open hours. The museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. IMAS membership may be purchased or renewed online, in person, or by phone.
Image credit: “My Voyage to Venus”, Carlos Melguizo, Oil on canvas, 43″x35″, 2006.
