John Vincler on Enrique Chagoya for The New York Times

John Vincler has reviewed Borderless, our exhibition of paintings, prints, and drawings by Enrique Chagoya, for The New York Times.

"[Detention at the Border of Language]   characteristically mashes up pop and abstract elements with historical sources — in this case by reworking Charles Ferdinand Wimar’s 1853 painting, 'The Abduction of Daniel Boone’s Daughter by the Indians.' This and the 13 other paintings, prints and book works included in 'Borderless' provide a potent introduction to the Mexican-born, Californian artist’s method of exploding history so as to make collages from the wreckage in a process Chagoya calls 'reverse anthropology.'”

Vincler continues, highlighting the survey of codices on view, "Chagoya’s best work remains these 'codex' formats, where pre-Columbian Mayan and Aztec book traditions nearly obliterated by Spanish Catholic colonizers are hybridized with comic books and steeped in art-historical allusions. Chagoya’s good-troublemaking remains ever fresh."