Campo Expandido XVIII

Very Special Arts Center Gets an Artistic Facelift, Courtesy of Renowned Mexican Artist Raymundo Sesma and 8 Students 

                                               

Day by day, the drab, concrete-gray facade of North Fourth is eclipsed by more and more bold blues, greens, yellows, blacks and whites in striking geometric patterns.

Eight young artists are up early every morning, collaborating with internationally prominent Mexican artist Raymundo Sesma, to create an artistic gift for the disabled artists and staff that make their home at the VSA North Fourth Art Center.

Sesma, a multidisciplinary artist who divides his time between Mexico City and Milan, Italy, believes that “Campo Expandido XVIII frees the mind of whomever observes and listens.”

 

His work includes painting, installation and video, along with a series of monumental and architecturally transforming public art projects. Raymundo Sesma’s second site-specific intervention in Albuquerque, Campo Expandido XVIII at the Very Special Arts center marks Sesma's second collaboration with Working Classroom. Last year, the artist, whose work is featured in numerous museum collections including - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Musée dÁrt, Paris; Museo de Monterrey, Mexico; and The Library of  Congress, Washington - collaborated with Working Classroom student apprentices to create Campo Expandido VIII, the city’s only 24/7 gallery in downtown Albuquerque. Campo Expandido VIII earned an Honors Award from the American Institute of Architects, New Mexico Chapter, as one of the five best new pieces of architecture in the entire state. 

 

Student apprentices Bianca Benavidez (Pacific Northwest College of Arts), Aron Kruchoski (Highland High), Jose Lopez (Albuquerque High), Michael Lopez (Evergreen University), Lauren Martinez-Burr (Valley High), Patricia Neddeau (UNM), Dylan Reames (Manzano High) and Project Manager Stephanie Zarrasola (Macalaster College) received the chance to work with a world-renowned artist, which Michael Lopez said working with Sesma “has inspired me to think big. It’s an area that needs to be recognized and noticed because the people of North Fourth are doing great things.” 

The project is possible, thanks to a capital outlay allocation from Senator Dede Feldman and the City of Albuquerque Public Art Program.  

  

The public is invited to check out the new façade at a public dedication of Campo Expandido XVIII on Friday, July 27, 2008 from 6:00-7:00 PM at VSA North Fourth Art Center, 4904 Fourth Street NW, Albuquerque, NM.