Upcoming Exhibitions

Bunny Conlon Modern & Contemporary Art Gallery:

Art History

Art History: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
August 7, 2026 - September 19, 2026
Contemporary Gallery

Art History: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is a Pop-Up exhibition curated by current and recently graduated NMSU students. It invites viewers to learn about the many ways in which iconic artworks and ubiquitous motifs from the past have transcended their periods of creation and are continuously recycled in contemporary art. Artworks from regional, international, and student artists from the NMSU Permanent Art Collection are paired with recognizable works from a broad spectrum of art history to explore how the past simultaneously lives on and is disrupted by contemporary art. This exhibition aids viewers with educational guides including contextual information and interpretive suggestions, providing a framework to consciously observe the history of art beyond this exhibition.

The featured artists in this exhibition draw from traditional art historical imagery in a myriad of ways, from mere coincidence to shared themes and intentional appropriation. Graciela Iturbide’s Niños de los Cholos (1986) unintentionally recalls the motif of covered faces and white drapery from René Magritte The lovers (1928). Monica Martinez’s La Chingada (2017) responds to the quintessential art historical practice of still life, as represented in a pivotal Baroque painting by Juan Sanchez Cotán Quince’s, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber (1602), Botticelli’s Birth of Venus arrives not on a shell but through a camera lens, and Velazquez’s Las Meninas is brought to the streets of Bel Air. 
Several featured artists grapple with issues of colonialism, labor, class, gender, and the borderlands, offering reimaginings of historical representations that disrupt the hierarchy of the traditional western art canon. John Valadez’s Codice Tattoo - Pochos Wedos (1992) depicts Chicano identity through a nuanced lens by appropriating figures directly from the Codex Mendoza, a significant document of Spanish colonial art history. Judy Dater’s Self Portrait (1982) transforms Bottecilli’s The Birth of Venus to reject the objectification of women’s bodies throughout art history. These artists rewrite historically dominant narratives that have determined what is worthy of being taught, preserved, and celebrated in the canon of art history, revealing how contemporary art both inherits and challenges the artistic conventions that came before it.

Margie and Bobby Rankin Retablo Gallery:

More information coming soon. Please learn more about our current exhibition: Trinities of Heaven and Earth