Artspeak Radio with Carlos Ortiz, Kiki Serna, and Cesar Lopez

Artspeak Radio, Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 9am -10am CST, 90.1fm KKFI Kansas City Community Radio, streaming live audio www.kkfi.org

Producer/host Maria Vasquez Boyd welcomes artists Carlo Ortiz, Kiki Serna, and Cesar Lopez.

CARLOS ORTIZ- Carlos Ortiz-Gallo was born in Lima, Peru in 1993 and migrated with his family to Miami, Fl in
May 2001. Currently based in Kansas City, MO, Ortiz-Gallo works with a diverse array of
mediums to create large hybrid installations. Ortiz-Gallo has participated in several solo and
group shows and has exhibited work at spaces such as the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, 19
Below, La Esquina, Beggar’s Table and the Curiouser in Kansas City. He has also exhibited
work in galleries in Illinois, Florida, and Texas. Ortiz-Gallo obtained his B.F.A in Printmaking and
Art History from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2016, and is currently the Curatorial Fellow at
the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures.

ARTIST STATEMENT
The development of my practice is rooted in instinctive approach and eclectic interests
surrounding family history, cultural intersectionality, everyday interactions, and the human ethos.
Through collage, mixed media, and sculptural objects, I create “printstallations” of
liminal spaces linked to my own migratory journey and socioeconomic experiences.
Everchanging in approach, I draw from a variety of sources, including family photographs and
documents, as well as found imagery in magazines and newspapers that I recycle and
re-contextualize as sources imperative to the language within my work.
As these elements come together, it engages the audience in a didactic and common ground,
sharing personal narratives related to my adaptation and assimilation to a different culture, my
own family’s separation and disintegration and the absence and presence of these individuals in
my life.
UPCOMING EVENTS
1. I will be introducing my work to guests and leading a printmaking demo at Night/Shift at the
Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, May 30th 5-9 PM, Free admission, https://cart.nelson-atkins.org/46624/46745
2. As the Curatorial Fellow at the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, I will be working with the museum to curate around 20 artists to a juried exhibition at the museum. The exhibition is titled “Local Artists Go Miniature”, which will feature local Kansas City based artists, a first for the museum. We are looking for miniature submission that are either inspired by everyday objects or things, miniatures that are created from imagination, conceptual miniatures

Aquetzali (Kiki) Serna is a Mexican visual artist living and working in Kansas City, Missouri. She received her Bachelors of Fine Art in sculpture from The Kansas City Art Institute. Most recently, Kiki has exhibited at MDW Fair at Mana Contemporary, Chicago, IL; H&R Artspace, Kansas City, MO; Galeria Venenoise, Mexico City, MX; and The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO. Kiki was also a recipient of a two-term residency at Charlotte Street’s Studio Residency program from 2018-2020. In addition, Kiki’s work is included in local private collections, including that of The Kansas City Museum.

Serna’s video, “Ghosts, Memories, and Imaginary Homelands” is currently on view at the Nelson Atkins Museum.

Cesar E. Lopez Mejia (B. Coatepeque, Guatemala; Kansas City – based) He received his Bachelors of Fine Art from the Kansas City Art Institute.
He has exhibited at Gallery Bogart, Kansas City. The Charlotte Street Foundation, Kansas City. MDW Fair at Mana Contemporary, Chicago. The Front, New Orleans. Galleria Venenoise, Mexico City, Mexico, Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Mo. Meca Art Fair, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Lopez sculpture, “Structural Coupling: Sequence,” is currently on exhibit at the Nelson Atkins Museum.

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