Benito Huerta received a B.F.A. degree from the University of Houston, and his M.A. from New Mexico State University. He was Co-founder, Executive Director and Emeritus Board Director of Art Lies, a Texas Art Journal. He is a Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington where he has been Director/Curator of The Gallery at UTA since 1997. His work will be featured in one-person exhibitions, “As the World Turns” at Kirk Hopper Fine Art in Dallas in spring of 2022 and in “InterSection” at William Campbell Gallery in fall of 2022. Recent one-person exhibitions were “Odd Ducks and Other Assorted Tales” at William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth; “Entr’acte” at Reavley Gallery, Cole Art Center at Stephen F. Austin University. Huerta has also exhibited at the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, Houston Museum of African American Culture; the Wichita Falls Museum of Art; the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth; the Glassell Gallery, Shaw Center for the Arts, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. His work is in several museum and corporate collections throughout the United States. Huerta was the recipient of the Dallas Center for Contemporary Art’s 2002 Legend of the Year Award and Exhibition and was the first Maestros Tejanos Exhibition in 2008 at the Latino Cultural Center, Dallas. He recently completed a public art project for the University of Texas at Arlington, Signs of Life, which was installed in August, 2019. Other recent work is Urban Still Life, South Main Street project, Fort Worth installed in 2017. Other completed public art projects are the Marine Creek Park Corridor Master Plan in 2014, Fort Worth; SnakePath (Mexican Milk Snake), Mexican American Cultural Center, Austin, Texas (2007); Wings, DFW International Terminal D Skylink terrazzo floor designs (2005); and Axis, Henry Gonzales Convention Center, San Antonio. As a curator he recently organized survey exhibitions of Mel Chin for The Gallery at UTA, University of Texas at Arlington and Cesar A. Martinez for the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago. Other surveys/retrospectives exhibitions he has organized are of David McGee, John Hernandez, Luis Jimenez, Dalton Maroney and Celia Alvarez Munoz.
Artist Statement:
In Memory of Days Past – The skull/antlers is a portrait of me when I am 100 years old – inspired by a James Ensor lithograph, “Self-Portrait, 1960” of a reclining skeleton of him when he is/was 100 years old. The teeth on my painting are modeled after my teeth that are crooked due to a childhood accident.
In Memory of Days Past (In memory of Delfina Valdez Lozano), 2018
Oil on canvas
48” x 48”
As the World Turns, 2022
Oil on canvas
48” x 48”
As the World Turns – the flowers are within the shape of the Coronavirus. Which in turn looks like the world with trees/palm trees. The lilies painted are used for weddings and funerals.
