Surrealism of the 21st Century at LuminArte Gallery features numerous Texas artists, including Breck Outland, Francisco Javier, Magi Calhoun, Morgan Grasham, Rick Timmons and Merry Fuhrer. Local Surrealists will accompany an international group of artists in a presentation of Luso-American Surrealism, which is a continuation of a series of exhibitions relating to Portuguese artist, Santiago Ribeiro´s project “International Surrealism Now.” This unique exhibition will feature works of Portuguese artists Victor Lages, Paula Rosa, Francisco Urbano, Santiago Ribeiro, and American artists France Garrido, Joe MacGown, K.D. Matheson, Shahla Rosa, Steve Smith and Olga Spiegel. In addition, LuminArte Gallery is proud to introduce the paintings of New York based artist, Richard Vaux and California based painter, Joe Vaux. In LuminArte’s Small Works “River Edge Gallery” a collection of mixed media artwork and photography will also be exhibited with works by international artists Chema Gil, Sergei Rodionov, Otto Rapp and Katrin Alvarez and Dallas based photographers David Rickerd and Ben Britt. This exciting exhibition opens on March 22nd, with a reception from 7-10pm; and many artists will be in attendance. The exhibit runs through April 26th; and both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

Most widely known for his work as a director and storyboard artist on the animated series “Family Guy,” Joe Vaux has found his creative voice not only through a multitude of animation projects, but also in a booming career in fine art. Joe’s imaginative perspective is apparent in his playfully bizarre paintings, but has more recently branched out across the spectrum, including a line of clothing for the Tonny Sorensen Collection and even through projects for Playstation. “Strange environments and absurd characters are the players in a demented adaptation of my life story. I hope that within the madness the viewer will find the comedy that is our existence.”

The only son of two talented artists, Joe Vaux learned the joys of creation at an early age; though his work is in stark contrast to his father, Richard’s sublimely surreal landscapes and archetypal narratives. Richard Vaux is an accomplished multimedia artist, represented in public and private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and the Far East; and has been in numerous international exhibitions and publications. “My work is an ongoing process, one composition leading to the next. In searching for the harmonies and balances of nature, the works parallel and emulate natural phenomena. With each painting there is a new sense of harmony with nature, a coordination and synthesis of the physical and the spiritual. Each composition is a visual poem about light and illumination…the visible and the invisible”.

International Surrealism Now began in Portugal in 2010, with Santiago Ribeiro organizing a major exhibition that was sponsored by the Bissaya Barreto Foundation. The event celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Conimbriga Monographic Museum and was followed by exhibitions in Paris, Madrid and Berlin. Afterwards, Santiago began a partnership with artist Victor Lages to develop the project” Utopia of Fantastic Art,” for the purpose of organizing exhibitions in Lisbon and in other international venues. The collective focus of the artwork addresses themes of human nature and the subconscious, as well as concerns about modern society and its individual and collective behavior. Psychic automatism becomes a prevalent motif in the exhibitions, promoting spontaneous, free expression with as little interruption from the conscious mind as possible, in order to enable the artists to explore the depths of the imagination and to tap into and express the fundamental nature of reality.