J. Angel Calabres | THE BORDER IS A WEAPON

For Season Three, we are featuring the artists of THE BORDER IS A WEAPON exhibition curated by Gil Rocha and presented by Other Border Wall.  The exhibition features five artists from the US/MX border and was curated by Gil Rocha.  First opening in January 2022 at 937 Gallery in the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust  the show then traveled to the Laredo Center for the Arts in July 2022. Each interview is conducted by Tereneh Idia. Tereneh is the founder of Idia'Dega, an award-winning journalist, and the co-founder of Other Border Wall Project.

Angel Cabrales, MFA, is an Assistant Professor in Sculpture at the University of Texas at El Paso. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Arizona State University and Masters of Fine Arts from The University of North Texas. Angel views everything as an artistic resource and utilizes this in all his creations, from his extensive experience with a variety of mediums and styles, to the intangibles, such as his upbringing in the El Paso, Texas Borderlands, his work grows and expands with the requirements presented from each new idea.His father a retired engineer at White Sands Missile Range, instilled Angel with a great interest in science and engineering, while his mother, a politically active stay at home mother, taught him the importance of community and social work through her volunteer work. Angel's work is an amalgamation of his upbringing resulting in social/political commentary with an engineered flare. The artwork’s concept ultimately dictates the medium needed for its creation, so artistic evolution is intrinsic in his philosophy. 

Cabrales is an artist fellow for the Looking for America project out of Washington D.C. He is exhibiting in the American Embassy in Mexico City and has exhibited in the International TransBorder Biennial, Texas Biennial, AmoABiennial600, the Chamizal National Memorial, the Mexic-Arte Museum, MAC Dallas, the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Mesa, AZ, The Latino Cultural Center of Dallas, El Paso Museum of Art, Wave Pool Gallery in Cincinnati, OH, Grand Art Haus in Phoenix, AZ, Baton Rouge Gallery, and collaborated with the AMBOS Project (an intervention collaboration along the Border) from Los Angeles. He is also featured in the Icons and Symbols of the Borderland book by Diana Molina and La Frontera: Artists along the Mexican/American Border by Stefan Falke. Angel was recently interviewed by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum to be included in the Estrellas y Cuentas initiative on Latino Futurism. He is represented by the Ro2 Gallery in Dallas, TX and the Royse Contemporary in Scottsdale, AZ. Cabrales is also a member of the International Sculpture Center, the Texas Sculpture Group, and a board member in the JUNTOS art collective. Angel was also a juror for the 2020 Student Achievement Awards for Sculpture Magazine.Cabrales teaches all levels of Sculpture at UTEP, includingExperimental Systems in Sculpture focused on STEAM elements in art and the Neon Sculpture program. He is head of theEASSI (Engineering + Art + Science = Social Impact) team that works on community engaged projects involving the arts and sciences in the Borderlands of El Paso.

Website: http://www.angelcabrales.com/

Tereneh Idia
Design work: www.IdiaDega.com
Writing: https://muckrack.com/tereneh-idia
Twitter: @TerenehIdia