Artist Carlos Villa’s works to be seen in two venues

The San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries and Asian Art Museum will present Carlos Villa: Roots and Reinvention from Jun. 24 to Aug. 20, 2022.

The presentation highlights Filipino American artist Villa’s art from the 1980s and 1990s, which shifted away from large abstract works with body impressions to works that delved into the history of Filipinos in America, immigration, and Villa’s own family archives.

Both exhibition venues (the Asian Art Museum and SFAC) are within walking distance of each other across Civic Center Plaza, and can be easily visited in one day.

Carlos Villa: Worlds in Collision is curated by Trisha Lagaso Goldberg (SFAI) and Mark Dean Johnson (San Francisco State University), and coordinated at the Asian Art Museum by Abby Chen, the museum’s head of contemporary art.

First Impression, 1980, by Carlos Villa (American, 1936–2013). Bones, hair, rags, and Stuc-O-Life paint (latex with silica, quartz, sand, and fossil remains) on raw unstretched canvas. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Museum purchase, 2020.2. Photography © Estate of Carlos Villa.

Both Lagaso Goldberg and Johnson worked closely with Villa during his lifetime. The San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries’ exhibition is a project organized by Director Meg Shiffler and Associate Curator Jackie Im in partnership with Lagaso Goldberg and Johnson.

A first-generation Filipino immigrant born in San Francisco, Villa was raised in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood and trained at SFAI (where he taught from 1969 to 2012) and Mills College in Oakland.

Troubled by a teacher’s comment that “there is no Filipino art history,” Villa began to study non-Western art in search of his cultural roots. He spent 1964 to 1969 in New York, but — inspired by the late 1960s Third World Liberation consciousness in the Bay Area — Villa moved back to his hometown and changed his approach to art making to more fully reflect these wider perspectives.

“Many of Villa’s works from the 1970s on view at the Asian Art Museum take the form of capes and cloaks, referencing human adornment and ritual objects drawn from traditions of the Philippines and other non-Western cultures,” says exhibition co-curator Johnson.

Rituals, readings, and karaoke celebrate Villa’s legacy

In honor of Carlos Villa’s impact across multiple disciplines — and to celebrate the spirit of play and joy he brought to much of his work — the Asian Art Museum, SFAC, and SFAI have organized a series of public programs and events to appeal to every visitor, from scholars to those looking for a new groove. See websites for time and ticket details; Thursday evenings at the Asian Art Museum are always discounted.

• Saturday, Jun. 18 (daytime) – Conversations on Carlos Villa: World-Making and Cross-Cultural Solidarity

Featuring wide-ranging discussions punctuated by readings and performances, this festival reflects Villa’s own historical symposia, performances, and gatherings.

• Saturday, Jun. 18 (evening, 4 to 6 p.m.) – Free exhibition viewing and opening reception at the SFAC Main Gallery

Festival attendees and others are invited to make their way across the Civic Center Plaza to experience the Carlos Villa: Roots and Reinvention exhibition at the SFAC Galleries in the Veterans Building.

• Thursday, Jul. 21 (evening) — Karaoke night with the TNT Traysikel

From oldies to recent classics to today’s new pop standards, jump into the roaming art tricycle and show us what you’ve got.

• Thursday, Aug. 18 (evening) — Carlos Villa: Lordy Rodriquez “Marking Time” art workshop

Join Bay Area Filipinx artist Lordy Rodriquez for an evening of art-making and remembrance.

• Thursday, Sept. 15 (evening) — Carlos Villa Listening Party with DJ and dancing

Villa was known for his love of music and incorporating it into his community-centric “actions;” discover tunes from his time, and new ones from ours, and dance into the night.