Juan de Dios Mora went to high school in Laredo, Texas. He received his MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he now teaches printmaking. His intricately carved linoleum-block prints reveal the artist’s keen social awareness and tell stories of the clash and mix of cultures along the Texas-Mexico border in intensely detailed images full of a cultural iconography unique to the border region. In his Asunción del Emigrante (Immigrant’s Assumption), for instance, the main figure of the immigrant ascending to heaven is surrounded by angels who offer plastic bottles of water for his journey, while a pinto bean and a single rose wear halos. It is an image of the faith and hope carried by the immigrant on his often perilous journey, with a bit of dark humor thrown in.
Juan de Dios Mora, Bien Arreglada, 2011. Linocut. Collection of the McNay Art Museum, gift of Harriett and Ricardo Romo.
