Miguel Machuca

Miguel Machuca showed up with the back end of his truck filled with paintings at the American Indian Educational Resource Center in San Jose, the day before the first Youth on Fire Exhibit. Curtis Manzano had discovered him through a mutual friend and invited his participation. Miguel's paintings were powerful and he was a gentle and articulate young man working—without benefit of education or training—as a behavioral analyst with autistic children. He desperately wanted to be an artist and make his living with art at the center of his life.

Today, he still works with autistic children but has graduated from high school and has a growing list of exhibits on his resume. He is on the Board of Directors for the non profit gallery WORKS and together with their teen advisory board, he organizes art workshops for children each summer and has applied for an artist residency with them. He is also the assistant director of Heart of Chaos. (see www.heartofchaos.net)

Miguel's exhibit Lifting the Veil” can be seen online at the Heart of Chaos website. The concept for this solo exhibit, his artist statement, and a short biography are below.

Lifting the Veil: The Concept:
Art has the power to loosen the tight grasp of the conscious mind, permitting unknown moods and images to arise. It is a gateway to an archetypal reality where all aspects of the Self reside, owned or not. Emerging artist Miguel Machuca lifts the veil and allows others a glimpse of the disturbing and yet infinite richness of the shadow realm. The shadow substances in his paintings have been actively hunted and retrieved and invite the viewer to work with the material. Shadow work means hearing the messages from hidden parts of ourselves and listening to the voices that have been silenced. The Slave (see right), an image with deep mythic roots, depicts the abandonment, betrayal and sacrifice of the disowned self and allows both artist and viewer to engage its energies and benefit from the encounter.  As one awakens to a growing desire for greater self-awareness and authenticity and for a deeper intimacy with others, lifting the veil and doing shadow-work—engaging these suppressed energies through art and imagination—becomes the vehicle through which this can be achieved.

Artist Statement

“I have a dark muse that propels me to express what is painful and depressing in my life. My art holds the shadow, both personal and universal, giving it a voice and a forum for further exploration. Once on canvas or paper, the dark emotions and musings have an existence separate from my own and can no longer claim my life energy and disable me. The process of painting then is transformative, a vital process critical to my well being and continuance. Each of my paintings is like a chapter in a book on the human journey. The viewer becomes the reader and can participate in the emotions invoked by “reading” my art and finding the counterparts that resonate to their own experiences. I believe that their engagement and rapprochement with the painted images allows this mysterious transference and healing to occur and free them as well.”

Short Biography

Miguel Machuca was born and raised in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico, and lived there with his parents and a brother and sister until his father’s unexpected death in 1986. The following year, Machuca and his mother and two siblings moved to San Jose, California, where he attended middle school and high school. Without the benefit of formal training, he began drawing as a young teen and migrated to painting right after high school, inspired by Frida Kahlo, Picasso, Michaelangelo and other great painters. His first exhibit was at the Mexican American Center for Latin Arts (MACLA) in 2001 and in 2002 his work was showcased at the Heart of Chaos’ exhibit “Youth on Fire” held at the American Indian Education Resource Center in San Jose. In 2004 he participated in the Phantom Gallery project and that same year his painting “Nine Months” was exhibited at the Macchu Pichu gallery. Currently he is the Assistant Director of the Heart of Chaos artisan colletive, a board member for WORKS, a non profit art gallery in San Jose, and he works as a behavioral analyst with autistic children.

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