San Antonio’s Latino Artists to Watch in 2016

Alejandro Augustine Padilla

"Alejandro Augustine Padilla established Studio Fantomas at the art complex at 1906 S. Flores St. where he shares studio space with James Supa Medrano. Working in oil paint, ink drawing and acrylics, Padilla explores how trauma impacts a person’s mental health. A self-taught artist, Padilla was part of a larger exhibition at Bihl Haus in early 2015 that showcased how the artists reacted artistically to environmental traumas such as deforestation, pollution, AIDS and water scarcity. “I look inward at anxiety, at the fragility of life, at how de-personalized, how isolated we can feel. The birds I’m drawing now are organic, in the process becoming a vessel for that anxiety,” Padilla said about his fine line, highly textured bird series of drawings he is working on. Padilla’s next show will be at the Freight Gallery starting Feb. 13 through March 12, 2015, featuring his ink drawing, oil painting and sculpture work using found objects."