José Villalobos is a multidisciplinary artist exploring identity, queerness, and cultural heritage through sculpture, performance, and installation. Growing up between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, he confronts the conflicts between tradition, faith, and sexuality within Mexican and American cultures. Rooted in personal experience, his practice challenges machismo and the violence of assimilation, transforming materials and symbols to reclaim queer visibility. Villalobos has exhibited nationally and internationally and is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Painters & Sculptors Grant. Recently he became a Trellis Art Fund Stepping Stone Fellow. His work affirms resilience, tenderness, and the power of self-expression within queer and borderland communities.

For the exhibition “Navegando la Masculinidad de la Frontera / Navigating the Border’s Masculinity,” Villalobos presents a collection of new and past works that create a dialogue about masculinities within Norteño culture, its subcultural predecessors, and related historical movements. Villalobos’ aesthetic often combines the rugged iconography of the West (boots, cowboy hats, leather, ropes) with the flamboyance, glitter, and vulnerability of queer expression. The result is a powerful tension: the imagery of strength, control, even violence (e.g., rodeo, bull-taming) juxtaposed with fragility, costume play, and critique of the structures that define “manhood.”

The opening reception will be held Thursday, February 19, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm
The exhibition will be on view February 23 through April 17, 2026
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, and by appointment.
Admission is free and open to the public.