La Pena presents “Corazon a Corazon: from Mexican Heart to Latino Heart” a photographic exhibit exploring the growing impact and influence of Mexican art and culture on the United States. It features the photography of Kristen Hernandez, Stella Lujan, Melissa Naranjo, Robert Perez, Mary Helen Perez, Fern Ramirez, and Richard Sanchez. The show opens on Friday, September 8th with a reception from 6-8 pm and runs through September 29th.

The imprint of Mexican culture has moved north in many ways. These Mexican influences on US Latino culture and art are numerous and deep. The spill-over of Mexico’s unique heritage goes beyond an impact on the US Hispanic. Mexico’s continuing traditions have touched Americans at large. We see this in the ever-widening visibility of El Día de los Muertos. The Frida Kahlo revival/craze of the last two decades seems to fade in and out but she somehow remains in the psyche of Latinos and then filters through to the American Southwest and beyond. Mexican murals spearheaded by Diego Rivera and other great Mexican masters also loom large. More and more singular achievements of Mexican art and culture have captured the imagination of El Norte, the US, and the Mexican Americans have served as a means to bring the Mexican culture and its art with them as they cross the border into the US.