Tony Ortega was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico and educated at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he received an MFA degree in 1995. He lives and teaches in Denver and has been rec-ognized by the prestigious Colorado Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts as well as the Denver Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.
We chose Ortega’s “La Marcha de Lupe Liberty” for the La Prensa Texas cover because it symbolizes a march for freedom as well as the safeguarding of our democracy. Ortega’s artist statement, explains his purpose as one where his work “inter-weaves, juxtapos-es and superim-poses unlikely im-ages from Ameri-can and Mexican popular cultures that include icons, symbols, history and the contempo-rary world to fos-ter opportunities for the bending of meaning.”
My wife Harriett and I donated this print to the McNay Museum in San Antonio. The print was part of our Estam-pas Collection and the exhibit traveled to several museums, including the North Carolina Museum of Art. In their show, the curators noted that for Tony Ortega, “the Statue of Liberty is combined with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s most popular saint. Together the images represent the new America as seen by the artist: a perfect blending of cultures and freedom.”
The cover art by Ortega is dedicated to the memory of Sam Coronado, artist and master printer who printed this beautiful print in his famed Serie Series.
