Gabriel Marquez knows that with all the great art in the Borderland, there’s no reason to only celebrate it once a month.

This week he’s launching First Friday as a counterpart bookend to Last Thursdays, the monthly event that unites galleries in highlighting artists.

Marquez, one of the artists from the Casa Ortiz art gallery at 10167 Socorro Road in Socorro, said his goal was “just to offer another venue for art lovers and other creative people just to kind of come together and create a space where we can all share our creativity ’cause throughout the day to day, a lot of people are kind of focusing on the negative. But we can also just kind of let loose and explore other ideas that other people have as far as their artwork.”

The 38-year-old said part of the inspiration came from the six years or so he lived in Seattle.

“I moved back from Seattle, and over there, there were so many events taking place every week in different parts of the city. And so I was hoping to bring that home here, where people can explore different parts of the city at different times of the month — just so that everybody can kind of share the same amount of focus.”

Casa Ortiz’s inaugural First Friday will be from 5 to 10 p.m. and has a roster that’s special to Marquez.

“We’re going to have a lineup of artists that I’ve known for many, many years,” he said. “I graduated with them from UTEP, and it’s been about 10 years since and they’re continually creating.

“So, I wanted to invite them and showcase their work because they’re still making it and they’re still very creative. The work is very beautiful and I wanted to share that with the public.”

The artists will be presented in a group exhibition titled “Arbitrary Charm.” They are Laura Turón, Babak Tavakoli, Efren Solarzano, Jason Lucero, Miguel Valdez, Staphany Garnica, Theron Nicholson and a papier-mâché mask artist who goes by Xingaderas.

The permanent, five-member team of artists at Casa Ortiz — who in addition to Marquez are Diego “Robot” Martinez, Brian Holt, Nico Antuna Cooper and Carla Padilla — have brought innovation to an increasingly successful business model that offers visitors a diversity of activities and entertainment options.

Within the compound of adobe buildings are Casa Ortiz and Three Missions Brewery, (formerly Mission Trail Brewery), which is drawing beer-loving visitors drawn to its craft brews, most notably its pomegranate ale, and the Casa del Humo food truck, which offers ribs, brisket, sausage and brunch treats that can be enjoyed with the brewery’s drinks on wood picnic tables on the grounds.

Across the street, Casa Apodaca features the work of artist Turón, whose interactive “Paradox Pyramid” and intricately designed school bus are set up at the site. A restaurant also is planned for Casa Apodaca.

This past Saturday, guest vendors drew enough visitors to fill the large dirt parking lot behind Casa Ortiz. Some sellers were young artists, including college and university students, which the gallery helps promote.

Plans call for the Saturday Market to be held every other week, with the next one set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 15.

The artists at Casa Ortiz also take their work on the road, appearing at pop-ups and other art events across the county.

Marquez is incorporating several of these key options for First Friday.

“We’re going to have (Three Missions Brewery) available, as well as Casa del Humo, and we’re also going to have a performance. It’ll be about three hours long,” Marquez said. “It’ll be by Cuerdas, which is going to be an instrumental show.

“We’re going to have a cello player, and a vocalist and a guitarist that are going to collaborate, and they’re going to be playing all night.”

Cuerdas is set to play from 7 to 8:30 p.m., with Bards of the Revolution playing from 9 to 10 p.m.

Marquez added, “The event is free for everyone to come and enjoy and experience what we have here in Socorro, which is like a hidden gem right now.”

Marquez hopes the event grows.

“We’re continually going to be inviting artists to showcase their work here in the gallery and we’re always going to feature new upcoming and emerging artists,” he said.

“It’s going to be awesome.”

Learn to create an anamorphic grid with artist Laura Turón and to make your own reflective drawing- a type of technique called mirror anamorphosis.

In the shade of a yet-to-be-completed freeway in central El Paso sits an unsuspecting adobe house occupied by several of the most ambitious artists in El Paso.

It’s an all-encompassing workshop, sandbox and parlor of creativity called Galería Lincoln.

“We’re creating a space to serve as a platform for artists here in El Paso,” said Diego “Robot” Martinez, one of Galería Licoln’s operators along with Tino Ortega. “There aren’t enough people seeing the art that’s coming out of here, and we think the Lincoln Park area is one of those places where we want to keep art present.”

Lincoln Park sits underneath what’s known as the Spaghetti Bowl, where Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 54 merge in a tangle of freeways that drop motorists in different directions. Some of the pillars in that area, known for their colorful Chicano murals, have been knocked down as part of the Texas Department of Transportation I-10 Connect project. 

Galería Lincoln strives to provide another creative center in the area.

“When people open up galleries, they tend to do it for their own art, but we want to focus on other people’s art as well,” Ortega said. “This is a communal thing.”

On the fence surrounding the house, 3915 Rosa, is a large patchwork of crochet art created by a group called The Working Bees from San Elizario, led by Martinez’s aunt, Dora Razo.

Across the street is a brewery called Old Sheepdog, which features several prominent pieces of art from the gallery.

All of the art is for sale, of course. Pieces range from $20 to $3,000.

“We have art for sale for all different kinds of incomes and needs,” Martinez said. “Wanna buy an airplane?”

Alongside Martinez and Ortega is another well-known local artist, Laura Turon. Together, they’re on a crusade to bring art to the masses.

The three artists have been making art since childhood on one level or another, and each have a distinctive stamp that makes Galería Lincoln unique.

Diego ‘Robot’ Martinez

Martinez attributes much of his interest in his art to his mother, who encouraged him from a young age to explore his ideas as he wished.

“She would let me paint all over the walls, and it was no problem, because you could always just repaint them if you needed to.”

Even behind a face mask, one can tell Diego is smiling ear to ear.His enthusiasm is contagious. One can’t help but be awed by the art – no matter how large, small, intricate or serene – in his presence. A majority of his art features depictions of robots, most of which are given simple yet vivid human emotions and placed in atypical Rockwell-like situations.

“No one thinks ‘robots and feelings,’” Martinez said. “You can adapt and make the robot into any character, so it allows me to mold and shape him in endless ways.”

Another recurring theme in his art is the Sun City itself. A painting of a bright yellow sun over the Asarco smokestack notably brightens up the room.

Tino Ortega

Ortega’s work is characterized by a kind of hyper realism – works that blur the line between photorealism and depiction.

On the wall of the nearby brewery is one of Ortega’s more noteworthy pieces: a mural depicting four cellophane balloons that spell out “I (Heart) EP.” 

You can see the reflections in the balloons of a passer-by and several cars on the street that aren’t even there. 

Ortega grew up looking up to artists like Alex Gray, the man responsible for most of Tool’s mind-bending album covers, and says that being exposed to that kind of art from a young age helped stir his passion for the medium.

He has a kind of quiet intensity – when he’s not talking, you can see the storm of ideas gathering in his head for his next idea. 

It seems as if there’s constantly a piece of art about to emerge from his hands at any moment. 

Laura Turon

Turon’s signature design is the most prominent motif recurring throughout the grounds of Galería Lincoln.

It’s a distinct latticework design of what appears to be curves and waves, but when viewed up close, is actually entirely comprised of straight lines and angles. 

Two of the most prominent installations in the gallery carry this motif: the fuselage of a fighter plane painted in dazzle-paint gold and black, and a large “Inverted Pyramid” which is a Suspiria-like purple and cyan on the outside and a shapeshifting teal on the inside that matches her eyes.

“It’s an immersive interactive space where you can experience art in a different way,” she said. 

“You take pictures, videos, selfies, and be surrounded by an environment that might change your mood or feeling. I hope that it makes people feel at home and opens them up to make them want to express themselves.”

Outside of the gallery, Turon operates and is the creative mind behind Paradox Traveling Art – a bus designed similarly to the pyramid – that she hopes to incorporate into Galería Lincoln someday.

EL PASO, Texas– A new art installation in central El Paso’s Galeria Lincoln is giving people an unconventional way of looking at art and it’s all thanks to one local artist.

“This is an immersive art installation. It’s called ‘Paradox Pyramid’ and it’s an optical illusion. It’s a bunch of straight lines creating the optical illusion of curves and dimension,” said Laura Turón, a local artist who graduated from UTEP with a double major in drawing and graphic design and a minor in painting.

Turón’s mobile art environment proudly sits in the backyard of Galeria Lincoln, a local art gallery ran by artists for artists.

“It’s kinda like a puzzle that can be set up in any space. This piece comes apart and it can be put together. The whole concept of it is to make art accessible in areas that are not common, where you wouldn’t normally see an art piece like this somewhere,” said Turón.

Her art installation will be a part of Galeria Lincoln’s ‘Last Thursday” event which showcases artwork from artists across the borderland.

“We’re just a platform here for artists in the heart of El Paso. We’re really excited about Laura because she’s been doing art for a long time in the community and she’s been interactive and engaged in the community as well,” said Diego Martinez, Co-Owner of Galeria Lincoln.

During the day, the ‘Paradox Pyramid’ is lit with natural light, but at night, LED lights illuminate the piece to give people a different art experience.

“When people come in they kind of like walk into an art world and they experience that art and everything around them. The lines start to seem like they’re moving the more that you look at it,” said Turón who spent three months creating the art installation and worked 12 to 16 hour days.

She hopes her hard work will help create an artistic escape for those who stop by to see her work.

“And for people to feel like they belong somewhere. To feel like this is their space Their safe space where they can express themselves freely and have fun and forget about everything that’s going on right now and just have fun,” said Turón.

Galeria Lincoln’s ‘Last Thursday’ event is open to people of all ages. Visitors are encouraged to book an appointment online for the event happening Thursday June 25th.

Galeria Lincoln’s staff will be taking extra precautions for this Thursday’s event. Face masks are required and art work will be placed six feet apart.

The gallery will also be selling one-of-a-kind face masks created by Turón.

An art installation at Galeria Lincoln will help people record momentous occasions in life, but it also is meant to help remind them to make the most of it.

People can take part in “Paradox Pyramid,” an immersive art experience by artist Laura Turón, at Galeria Lincoln, 3915 Rosa Ave.

The gallery and Turón are teaming up to offer Borderland residents the opportunity for an artistic selfie, graduation photo, quinceañera pose, proposal or maybe just a chance to record a fun night out. 

Turón said she has been an artist since she was a young girl. “I went to school at UTEP and graduated with a drawing and graphic design major and a minor in painting,” she said.

After graduating, she worked at Amor por Juárez, helping promote artists from El Paso and our sister city.

Now, she is busy making sure she makes the most of her life. She said the tally marks used in her work help her do that.

While the way they are grouped create an optical illusion of curves, she said, “at the same time, it’s like I’m keeping count of it because I’m making every second count of my life. Like, ‘How are you doing that?’ So, it’s kind of like my concept. So, that is a goal of this piece.”

As for the title of her work, she said: “I began working with the concept of the paradox by doing research on my concept of time. I used to draw tally marks in trying to portray the concept of time, making an abstract representation of the second, like trying to make every second count. So, I would draw these large art pieces and installations, making tally marks and keeping count of the pieces. And I would have pieces that would be up to 300,000 or 500,000 tally marks, and going behind the concept of making every second count. 

She added, “So, I decided to do more research on the word paradox itself and I ran into this drawing system, which is the paradox drawing … which is a series of straight lines creating the optical illusion of curves and dimension. So, I started kind of combining that concept and decided to do portray my concept of art, definition of art and time, and started working with this optical illusion kind of concept.”

She said she used the concept on “an old school bus I converted into a mobile art installation gallery.”

She said her work creates a mobile environment, “which is a piece that is kind of like a puzzle that can be separated in sections and then constructed into one large piece and then can be adaptable to any space or area.”

Rather than selling her large installations, she charges people for access.

“The idea of this is for people to come walk in, come on in, and look at the environment around, look at the optical illusion and feel like they are walking into another world, a world where they can express themselves freely, take pictures, selfies and just enjoy art in a different way.”

Despite the intricacies behind the creation of the optical illusion of curves through the use of lines, she said she prefers simplicity as she creates.

“I use tape as a line,” she said. “It’s a little bit simpler, but, still, it’s hard.

“But I like to use simple materials, like rulers, markers and tapes. On my art installation on the bus, I did use a ruler and a marker. And I have done this like that as well.

“But the tape is a little faster to work with, and sometimes it comes out more expensive, but it is a little bit faster and we can also play with the consistency of the lines,” including the thickness.

She said: “Sometimes working with tape is a little bit unpredictable. You don’t know if the tape is gonna get stuck onto the piece or the paint is gonna peel, so it’s a little bit more work.”

Creating “Paradox Pyramid,” she said, took two and a half months, “but it was working about 14, 16 hours a day. It was a lot of work.”

She said people visiting “Paradox Pyramid” will have a different experience, depending on when they stop by.

“This piece plays with natural light and artificial light,” she said.

During the day, natural light adds tint, but at night, LED lights that change color will create a different experience.

Diego Martinez, co-owner of the gallery with Tino Ortega, said: “What we are hoping for this to be is just a new, innovative way for galleries to help artists self-sustain in the city, so we’re allowing her to kind of just run her online gallery store and use Galeria Lincoln as a platform. We think that’s huge and crucial for this community, that we’re aware of the talent that we have in this community and kind of like just the amazing things that we’re doing here collectively as a unit.”

Ortega, who took a key role in putting together the installation, said, “Luckily, everything has just been falling into place. … It’s kind of like kismet, to be honest. Her stuff already happened to be here. It was just one of those things that was just meant to be.”

“Paradox Pyramid,” which previously was seen at “Chalk the Block” in 2018, was stored in a shipping container in the gallery’s backyard when Martinez and Ortega thought of bringing it out as an immersive art experience for the public that also could raise funds for the gallery and Turón.

The gallery also is selling limited-edition face masks by Turón for $30 each, as well as prints of her designs. Two of her paintings that were part of an exhibit on immigration at the El Paso Museum of History also are on display.

She also is working on redoing the artwork on a plane fuselage in the gallery’s backyard. Martinez said the plan with the plane is to periodically have artists rework it to create new experiences.

Laura Turón graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a BFA in Studio Art. Her work presents ephemeral art installations that combine science, community art, concepts of time, and cultural anthropology.

Laura is experienced in art interventions in public spaces. Her work has focused on artistic development within the El Paso-Las Cruces region. With her project Paradox Traveling Art, an art installation gallery housed within a converted full-size school bus. She creates art installations and is able to provide art workshops that promote creative expression and critical thinking in areas that have limited or no access to art spaces.

Paradox Traveling Art is mobile art installation created by El Paso/Juarez artist Laura Turon. This art piece is also presented as the first mobile art gallery in El Paso, housed within a converted school bus.

The artistic concept portrays a mobile art gallery as an art piece itself, one that travels and moves beyond the gallery’s walls. Paradox Traveling Art, makes it debut on Thursday, July 27th during the Last Thursdays Art Crawl in downtown. It will be located outside of the El Paso Museum of Art with a reception inside the Museum of Art. 

The event will also feature live performances by OME, the El Paso Opera, Mindy Chanson, live graffiti painting by Kalavera Culture shop, and live screen printing by Proper Printshop. Here to tell us all about Paradox is artist Laura Turon.

In an unassuming warehouse, quite literally off the beaten path in Mesquite, New Mexico, artist Laura Turón works meticulously on her latest project. Turón is known for her signature mark-making work, usually displayed in large-scale, single-plane installations.

Her current canvas is a conspicuous dissention—it’s a retired school bus that she scored for a pretty great deal on Craigslist. Paint, plexiglass and other elements amalgamate in the unconventional innovation.

Using tape, Turón creates a visual pattern through a technique called “paradox drawing” to produce a 3-D illusion on the external walls of the bus. Inside, beyond the driver’s seat, the bus is completely gutted. She plans to continue the paradox motif in the interior, installing plexiglass domes and LED lights to evince the way that 2 dissimilar elements can harmonize. The natural and electric lights will play off of each other to create beautiful and interesting visuals that change with the position of the sun.

The project’s paradoxical elements aren’t just happenstance, they’re physical implementations of the broader concept that Turón has been exploring. Concepts of interference and time have motivated Turón’s work in the past. She found herself confronted with the idea of the paradox as a natural expansion of her work about time.

Through her research, she came across a definition of paradox, explaining the notion as something that can be perceived in different ways, which resonated with Turón: “It promotes critical thinking, and it lets the viewer create their own concept and meaning.” The piece is called Paradox Traveling Art, and it carries several purposes, with room for myriad perceptions. The piece is a mobile art installation and  El Paso’s first mobile art gallery. As a standalone artwork, it will also house other artworks, acting as an invitation for viewers to enter the piece, move through it and become, for a time, a part of the piece, too.

It’s fitting that she’s titled her work Paradox, because it’s a true manifestation of the concept on so many levels. The piece is completely different, yet almost entirely the same at once. The aesthetic overhaul makes the structure nascent and new, but the art bus ultimately retains its most basic, fundamental purpose, which is, to transport people to an immersive learning experience.

Turón plans to use the moveable art piece as a vehicle, literally and figuratively, to facilitate artistic encounters throughout the region: “I want to take art to spaces that have limited access to museums, galleries and workshops—make it accessible.”

Paradox Traveling Art will be unveiled at the upcoming Last Thursdays El Paso Art Walk on July 27^th in a special event with the El Paso Museum of Art. The project unveiling is one reason to make your way out to Last Thursdays, but there’s lots of others. Turón is one of the organizers for the Last Thursdays El Paso, a casual monthly project presenting art exhibitions, architectural tours, art markets, live entertainment and pop-up galleries throughout downtown El Paso—and it’s absolutely free.

The EP art scene is diverse, with emerging artists introducing new perspectives to the dialogue every day. Last Thursdays gives these artists a platform to showcase their projects to the community. “We have a lot of local talent . . . contemporary, abstract [art], photography,” Turón said. “We present performances, and we set up art markets at The Mix.”

The art walk is a great place to purchase gifts and original artwork for the home. It’s a far superior alternative to the conventional, mass-produced items you’ll find at your every-day retailer or online.

Last Thursdays have been happening for a few years now, and the event keeps expanding. Partnerships with the Museum and Cultural Affairs Department, Paso Del Norte, the Texas Trost Society and local art businesses and vendors have shaped Last Thursdays into a compelling, multifaceted opportunity to delve into El Paso’s art milieu. “[People] get to engage and experience an event that’s different, to interact with artists [and] the art scene. To walk around our beautiful downtown and support the local art community.”

Turón’s main motivator in all of her ventures is to encourage people to engage with local creators and to pursue artistic encounters more often. Turón knows well that art is a special kind of therapy. “When you’re surrounded by art and interacting with art . . . you get this really good feeling, subconsciously you get relaxed. Trying to understand things that are new to you takes your mind away from the daily stress. And it also makes you see things differently.”

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Turón has a lot planned for the region in the coming months. If you’d like to get involved or learn more about the Paradox project, upcoming workshops and other projects, feel free to email Turón at info@lt-artdesign.com and follow her on Facebook and Instagram @lauraturonart and @turonlaura, respectively. For all things Last Thursdays, email info@lastthursdaysep.com and follow Last Thursdays on Facebook and Instagram @LastThursdaysEP. To give to the Paradox project, please visit https://54306.thankyou4caring.org/paradox-artists-grants–workshops. To give to Last Thursdays EP, please visit https://54306.thankyou4caring.org/last-thursdays-el-paso.

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Text: Chantel Baul

Photos: Laura Jaquez Bustillos & Mario Rojo

Photo Gallery: Brioch