“A portrait, like a ritual, is never just what it seems.”

These opening words provide the introduction and create the context for Lab’s newest art exhibit to be held in the Corvus Gallery in Gordon Parks Arts Hall, “In The Gaze of Time: Ritual Portraiture.” The exhibit will display the work of the artist Luis Sahagun and is expected to be open no later than Jan. 17.

Gina Alicea, fine arts teacher and Corvus Gallery director, said she hasn’t used a Latinx artist’s work in a few years, so she wanted to show and highlight an artist such as Mr. Sahagun.

“I was particularly drawn to Luis’s work not only because of the mixed media element but because he also adds drawings, incorporating historical nature and rituals from Mexico,” she said. 

Mr. Sahagun highlights these rituals and spiritual aspects of his culture in his paintings by incorporating feathers, beads and even pencil drawings to add a more realistic aspect into his artwork. Ms. Alicea hopes her students and gallery visitors will see the unique ways Mr. Sahagun uses abstract materials in his work, with students taking inspiration to use for their own artwork and new ways to look at art and the world around them. 

“I want students to find all sorts of different ways to express themselves, and this is just one way they can do that,” she said. 

Mr. Sahagun will be at Lab in late January to teach middle school students during LabFest and also will work with Latino Unidos while he is here.

He will be working with students to teach them about his artwork, artistic style and methods, how art can communicate to its audience, and about the culture in which he grew up.