La Labor: The Paintings of Roel Flores exhibition from Texas Folklife to be featured at BHC

The Brownsville Heritage Complex, located in historic downtown Brownsville, invites the public to view La Labor: The Paintings of Roel Flores, a traveling exhibition from Texas Folklife that features the work of artist, musician, and former migrant worker and Weslaco native Roel Flores. This is the only currently scheduled stop for the exhibition in the Rio Grande Valley.

The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of Humanities Texas, City of Austin Cultural Arts Division, Texas Commission on the Arts, and National Endowment for the Arts.

The opening reception for the exhibition is scheduled for June 26 at 6 p.m. and is free to the public. The opening reception will also feature a presentation by the artist Roel Flores and his wife Epifania, as well as Conjunto music entertainment.

The exhibit features the work of Flores, a self-taught artist, who paints images of fields, sunsets, instruments and other aspects of his life as a Tejano in South Texas. His imagery reveals his love for music and a bittersweet nostalgia for fieldwork. 

"To me, you cannot separate the field work from the music. That was what kept us going. That was our only hope," he says. His portraits of Valerio Longoria and other esteemed Tejano musicians memorialize seminal icons and influences of Tejano culture.

Flores' work is included in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute, and two of his paintings traveled with their exhibit "El Rio."

Mr. Flores and his wife Epifania, have rich stories of migrant life, and their stories accompany the exhibit. The couple has a powerful message for us - about an alternative way to document history, and the role of art and imagination in everyday life.

The exhibit includes 25 paintings, artifacts from Mr. Flores' life in the fields, wall panels, and a 5 minute introductory video by documentary filmmaker Marcel Rodriguez, as well as a 16-page catalog of his life and work.

The communities of the Rio Grande Valley are home to a large population of migrant workers and people whose family histories are entwined with "la labor," the migratory experience of following the planting and harvesting cycles.

"This is one reason why Brownsville Historical Association is pleased to be hosting this exhibition," says Jessica Villescaz, BHA Curator.

The exhibit will be on view through August 1, 2008 and is included with the cost of $2 general admission to the Brownsville Heritage Museum. Admission is free for BHA members.

For more information on programs and exhibits please call (956) 541-5560 or www.brownsvillehistory.org