Washington and Lee University’s Staniar Gallery is pleased to present “Tijuacolor,” a solo exhibition by artist Hugo Crosthwaite, on view from April 28 to May 10. Crosthwaite will also give an artist’s talk at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 12 in Wilson Concert Hall in the Lenfest Center for the Arts, followed by a reception.

The exhibition and reception events are free and open to the public.

From April 28 to May 10, Crosthwaite will create a mural in Staniar Gallery. This improvisational work explores themes of borders and immigration through a layered visual style that blends portraiture, comic book imagery, urban signage and mythology. Throughout Crosthwaite’s live performance, visitors are welcome to observe the mural as it unfolds directly on the gallery walls.

“Tijuacolor” is a compound word invented by Crosthwaite that fuses “Tijuana” and “color,” referencing television and film branding concepts such as “technicolor” or “in full color.” The mural and exhibition promise a visually exciting narrative that reflects on issues such as immigration, gentrification, transculturation and violence. In keeping with the artist’s concept of impermanence and the ephemeral nature of border regions, the mural will be painted over at the end of the exhibition following the artist’s instructions.

Crosthwaite was born in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1971 and grew up in Rosarito, Baja California, 10 miles south of the international border. In 2019, he won first place in the Smithsonian’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and was later commissioned to create a stop-motion portrait of Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which debuted at the National Portrait Gallery in 2021. Crosthwaite’s work is included in major museum collections, including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Diego Museum of Art, the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California, and the FEMSA Collection in Mexico City. He is represented by Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

“Tijuacolor” is curated by Andrea Lepage, Pamela H. Simpson Professor of Art History at W&L, and the exhibition runs in conjunction with her Spring Term course, Chicana/o Art and Muralism: From the Street to the Staniar Gallery.

This exhibition is supported by the Class of 1963 Scholars in Residence Program, the Department of Art and Art History, the Department of History and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.