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Art from the Inside: PaÑo Drawings by Chicano Prisoners
June 17 - September 3, 2005
Opening reception Friday, June 17 from 5 - 8 pm

press release
images from this show

"Virgin of Guadalupe with Moon and Stars"
Artist Unknown
Black ink on white cotton handkerchief
15 1/2" x 15"
Undated

Lecture and gallery discussion by Dr. Victor Sorell on June 23, 6 - 8 pm 2005
Click here to listen to an audio clip of Dr. Sorell at Intuit discussing the paño art. (originally broadcast on Chicago Public Radio, 6.23.05)

Shown with the exhibit: Video: Paño Arte: Images From Inside
©About Time Productions, 1996
Running time: 31 min.

Press release:
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art will present the touring exhibition Art from the Inside: Drawings by Chicano Prisoners from June 17 through September 3, 2005 at Intuit, 756 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m., Wed.-Sat.; admission is free. Martha V. Henry, Director of Traveling Exhibitions for the New England Center for Contemporary Art, organized this exhibition.

Art from the Inside features 121 drawings on handkerchiefs. Known as paños, these pocket-sized canvases depict boldly drawn montages composed of Pre-Columbian symbols, colonial religious icons, Mexican historical figures and images from 20th century popular culture. Paños serve as pictorial letters which carry messages from inmates to family and loved ones on the outside and to friends and associates within the prison system. Paño artists draw upon a rich vocabulary derived from the “high” and “low” art forms of Mexico and the United States. Aztec warriors, the Virgin of Guadalupe and Pancho Villa, tattooed gang members, pin-up girls, vintage low-rider cars and trucks, clowns, teddy bears, and cartoon characters provide inspiration for the drawings. Although the origin of paño drawing is unknown, it is thought that the tradition emerged from the jails and prisons in Texas, New Mexico, and California during the 1940s.

An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, June 17, 2005, 5-8 pm, at Intuit. Dr. Victor Sorell will present a lecture and gallery talk, Illuminated Handkerchiefs, Tattooed Bodies, and Prison Scribes: Meditations on the Aesthetic, Religious and Social Sensibilities of Chicano Pintos, on Thursday, June 23rd from 6 - 8 pm. Dr. Sorell is Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Chicago State University.

Images from the show

Leonard Peña Four Camarades, c. 1996 (detail) Black ink on white handkerchief 14 5/8" x 15 1/8"

Leonard Peña Beat Down, 1996 (detail) Black ink on white handkerchief 14 1/2" x 15" Collection of Thomas Isenberg