Victor Yañez-Lazcano: Conjugations of Dream

Roswell Artist-in-Residence 

March 18 – June 11, 2023

Entry Gallery  

Artist Talk and Reception: Friday March 17, 5:30-7 p.m.

Conjugations of Dream features new artworks by Victor Yañez-Lazcano that compassionately and critically contemplate notions of the American Dream. Combining his research in language, labor, and identity this exhibition aims to shape a broader narrative of US-Latinx and Latinx immigrant identity. Through a pair of large-format color photographs, a feature-length video, a set of drawings on glass, and a sculptural installation, Yañez-Lazcano tacitly articulates his interests in visibility with regard to the American immigrant experience and dreaming. These four artworks are the first in a series of a growing body of work that asks of the American Dream: Who gets to dream? Who defines this dream? What are the rules of engagement, and at what cost to dreaming itself?

Since 2009, Victor Yañez-Lazcano has shaped an interdisciplinary body of work that chronicles his family’s history in the US as it transitions from immigrants to first-, second-, and third-generation Mexican Americans. His artworks explore his family’s collective identity at the intersection of race, language, class, and labor to further grapple with notions of assimilation. His research begins with collecting familial oral histories and documenting tacit assimilation patterns he believes unique to being raised in rural Wisconsin.

Victor Yañez-Lazcano received his MFA from Stanford University and his BFA from Columbia College Chicago. In 2012, Yañez-Lazcano co-founded LATITUDE, a non-profit community digital lab for photographers in Chicago. Since 2018, he has been a visiting lecturer in art at various institutions including Stanford University, San Francisco State University, and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. His work has been exhibited at numerous spaces including Royal Nonesuch Gallery (Oakland, CA), Natalie & James Thompson Art Gallery (San José, CA), Perspective Gallery (Milwaukee, WI), and The Chicago Design Museum. In 2016, CANDOR ARTS (now CANDOR Collective) published Yañez-Lazcano’s series ‘de’ which has gone onto be included in various collections including Yale University’s Haas Arts Special Collections, Indiana University’s Wells Library Fine Arts Collection, and Harvard University’s Fine Arts Library Special Collection.

En español:

conjugaciones de soñar presenta nuevas obras de Víctor Yañez-Lazcano que contemplan de forma compasiva y crítica las nociones del Sueño Americano. Combinando su investigación sobre el lenguaje, el mano de obra, y la identidad esta exposición pretende dar forma a una narrativa más amplia de la identidad de los inmigrantes Latinxs y la gente Latinx-estadounidenses.  A través de un par de fotos en color de gran formato, un vídeo de larga duración, un conjunto de dibujos sobre vidrio, y una instalación escultórica, Yañez-Lazcano articula tácitamente su interés por la visibilidad en relación con la experiencia del inmigrante estadounidense y de soñar. Estas cuatro piezas son las primeras de una serie de obras de arte cada vez más numerosos que  preguntan por el Sueño Americano: ¿Quién puede soñar? ¿Quién define este sueño? ¿Cuáles son las reglas del acuerdo y a qué precio para el propio sueño?

Desde 2009, Víctor Yañez-Lazcano ha dado forma a una obra interdisciplinar que narra la historia de su familia en Estados Unidos en su transición de inmigrantes a estadounidenses de origen mexicano de primera, segunda y tercera generación. Sus obras exploran la identidad colectiva de su familia en la intersección de la raza, la lengua, la clase social y la mano de obra para seguir lidiando con las nociones de asimilación. Su investigación comienza con la recopilación de historias orales familiares y la documentación de patrones de asimilación tácitos que considera únicos de haber crecido en la zona rural de Wisconsin.