No Pierdas El Tino by Paul Acevedo Gomez
No Pierdas El Tino by Paul Acevedo Gomez
Opening September 5, 2025 | MAIN GALLERY
on view at KCAC Galleries September 5th- 26th, 2025
Paul Acevedo Gomez
The title of this show, No Pierdas El Tino, loosely translates to “Don’t Lose Aim,” which I use to speak about my personal story and talk about my identity as a Mexican American artist. I offer a distinctive perspective on the pursuit of identity through art, evoking a universal sense of yearning to belong in a world that often marginalizes and isolates. Engaging with the community, I share a diverse narrative that not only celebrates Mexican American heritage but also integrates relatable experiences accessible to all, fostering inclusivity and connection through my work.
My work is created using printed material, color pencils and charcoal on heavyweight paper. They are an assortment of vivid colors and black & white compositions, which can reference somber or joyful moments from piece to piece. Working with a variety of sizes, I am able to recreate vivid recollections of personal conversations and instances that feel intimate and ambitious. Each composition reveals a new way of confronting those situations one last time. Through the process, I have the ability to create immediate and expressive marks with my choice of materials. This allows for content that feels larger than life to represent those important moments which I want the audience to visualize.
Each piece invoke thematic states of power, submissiveness, contemplation and action. Part of this experience can be distinguished using language as both a barrier and additive element in my work. In many cases, expressing a temporal and spatial relation to my unique identity, with the intention of translating my ideas and experiences for the viewer to contemplate and react to. In the work I employ references from personal reflection of heritage, challenging the societal norms imposed by family values, the expectations of culture and religion, with influences of both Mexican and American pop culture.
“Hecho en México / Made in Mexico” By Melissa Wolf
“Hecho en México / Made in Mexico” By Melissa Wolf
As political rhetoric grows increasingly militant toward immigrants, we are witnessing the dehumanization of people from a country that has always shared deep cultural, economic, and historical ties with the U.S. Although Mexico is a neighboring nation, and one whose people have built and sustained much of this country’s identity and labor, they are often treated with suspicion, contempt, and violence.
Hecho en México / Made in Mexico speaks to the beauty and vigor that come from a place so often misrepresented and misunderstood. From the skilled vaqueros who shaped cowboy culture and American agriculture, to the everyday builders and citizens of today, this exhibition invites viewers to reconsider what it means to be “made” in a place—how identity is formed, how it endures, and how it continues to evolve in the face of adversity.
Melissa Guadalupe Wolf was born and raised in Leavenworth Kansas, currently residing in Kansas City, Missouri. She was part of the “Inspired by Maya Indigenous & Latino Art Experience” exhibition at Union Station, Kansas City, MO in 2023 and contributed to the exhibition “Reflecting the City” at Charlotte Street Foundation, Kansas City, MO in 2024. Most recently she was part of the 2024 Benefit Arts Auction at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, NE.
