La Peña presents “Nueva_Villa: Reflections” artwork by Juan M. Villanueva at Las Manitas Avenue Café (211 Congress Ave, Austin, TX). The exhibit opens on Friday, August 11th with a reception from 6-8 pm and runs through August 1st.

Juan Manuel Villanueva was born and raised in Alice, Texas. In 1996 he moved to Chicago to study Fine Arts at the School Of The Art Institute Of Chicago. While in Chicago he participated in a number of group exhibitions and worked as an instructor with community-based organizations including Pros Arts Studio in Pilsen. In the spring of 2003 Juan moved to New York City where he continues to live and work in much the same vein as in Chicago. In addition to painting, he works as a floral designer in a unique high-end floral shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side called Gotham Gardens. He is also actively involved with the Groundswell Community Mural Project, based in Brooklyn.

Juan’s search for personal identity and sense of community is what drives all of his art, whether the medium is oils or acrylics, public art or natural elements. For “Nueva_Villa: Reflections”, he uses symbols painted in a collaged fashion to recount and re-examine fragmented memories.  The paintings are also an exploration into the development of a personal mythology, based on symbols from Aztec/Mayan art, natural images, memories, and stories. His art is deeply rooted in ceremony. Through the use of color & texture, the finished product serves as proof that he was physically, emotionally and spiritually presenting the development of both the artist and the art simultaneously.