This exhibition delves into the intricate fabric of community and shared humanity, addressing urgent social concerns that define our collective journey. Through themes of environmental fragility, gun control, political identity, and human posterity, The Well and the Paper Boat invites viewers to reflect on the forces that shape our lives and futures.

The well serves as a metaphor for community, depth, and resource while the paper boat evokes fragility, impermanence, and the hope for forward movement. Together, they symbolize the precarious balance between what we preserve and what we risk losing.

Each artwork within the exhibition acts as a conversation—highlighting both the vulnerabilities and the strength of human connection. It is a call to examine our roles in shaping a sustainable and just future, while reminding us of the power found in unity and action.

The Well and the Paper Boat is a space for reflection, imagination, and discovery—where questions of identity, politics, and humanity ripple outward, inspiring a collective vision of resilience and possibility.

Bio

Cande Aguilar is a mid-career contemporary visual artist, who was born and brought up by the United States-Mexico border, born in 1972, Brownsville TX a self-taught artist who reflects on border culture through his barrioPOP distinctive style. At the young age of 10, Cande embarked on a music career, and at the age of 13 recorded his first conjunto music album. As a musician (accordionist) he toured the United States and received numerous awards. In 1999 he produced his first oil painting and has since accumulated an impressive body of work. Cande defines his barrioPOP style as an amalgamation sprung by characters, colors and street phenomena. Aguilar has had solo exhibitions at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art (2001-2020); International Museum of Arts & Science, McAllen TX (2009); San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum, San Benito TX (2017); McNay Art Museum, San Antonio (2018); Presa Art House, San Antonio TX (2018); Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Lubbock TX (2019); 81 Leonard Gallery, NY, NY (2019); and Grayduck Gallery, Austin TX (2021); Laredo Center for the Arts, Laredo TX (2022); Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, San Antonio TX (2022).

His work has been included in group exhibitions at Wichita Falls Museum of Art (2009) Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas (2010) MACLA Museum, San Jose, CA (2012); Alexandria Museum of Art, Louisiana (2012); Painting Center, New York (2015) K-Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi (2019); 500X Gallery, Dallas (2017); Boecker Contemporary, Heidelberg, Germany (2017); La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain (2017); Studio Apothiki, Paphos, Cyprus (2015); Aguilar’s work was included in the (2017) Texas Biennial in Austin, Soy de Tejas, Centro de Artes San Antonio TX (2023). Most Recently acquired by The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art in Riverside CA, included in the inaugural exhibition Cheech Collects.