In Conversation with Chris E. Vargas & Apolo Gomez

In conversation with 516 ARTS Curator Olivia Amaya Ortiz, Gomez and Vargas will reflect on their approaches to contemporary art, their experiences working across different forms and mediums, and some of the ideas that resonate with The Rest Is Drag. The conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A. Apolo Gomez is a visual artist based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Working across photography, painting, collage, and installation, his interdisciplinary practice explores queerness, Chicanx identity, memory, desire, and mortality. His research-based project Tracing Queer ChicanX Histories, supported by a 2024 Fulcrum Fund award from 516 ARTS and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, investigates overlooked histories of queer and Chicanx activism in the American Southwest. His work has been exhibited at the New Mexico Museum of Art, 516 ARTS, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, and other venues nationally and internationally. Chris E. Vargas is a video maker and interdisciplinary artist whose work uses humor and performance to explore how queer and trans people negotiate historical and institutional memory and popular culture. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Museum of Trans Hirstory & Art (MOTHA), a critical and conceptual arts and hirstory institution highlighting the contributions of trans art to the cultural and political landscape. His practice encompasses video, performance, research, and collaborative projects that reconsider how queer and trans histories are collected, represented, and remembered. Vargas holds an MFA in Art Practice from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a recipient of a Creative Capital award, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Latinx Artist Fellowship.This conversation offers an opportunity to engage more deeply with the ideas and lived experiences that shape his work on view in our final exhibition at our Central location.