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Join us for a talk in the MCA Denver galleries with artist Tony Ortega as he shares insights into his career, his creative process, and his time as a resource artist at RedLine. With a career spanning four decades, Ortega is known for his murals, paintings, and prints that explore themes of Chicano identity, culture, and history.
Ortega’s work navigates the distance between two cultures, focusing on issues of language, community, capitalism, and family. His identity, cultural traditions, and geographic background inform his art, which merges iconic Mexican and American imagery to create something new, warping time and place to form a new, more accurate outlook on personal and cultural identity.
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About the Artist
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Tony Ortega holds an MFA in drawing and painting from the University of Colorado and is currently a professor for Regis University. In 2018 he was the Regis College faculty lecture of the year. He was the recipient of the coveted Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (1999) and the Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (1998). He has been a working artist for the past 41 years and professor for the past 20 years. Tony Ortega’s lifelong goal is to contribute to a better understanding of cultural diversity by addressing the culture, history, and experiences of Chicanos/Latinos through his art. His work can be found in the collections of the Denver Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum, and the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center. He has exhibited extensively in United States, Latin America, and other parts of the world. Tony’s artwork can be found in Denver, Colorado at the William Havu Gallery.