Les Chingones — Andrew Alba, Horacio Rodriguez, Sara Serratos, Kelly Tapia-Chuning
Material Gallery Presents Les Chingones, a Group Exhibition of Four Contemporary Utah Artists
Material Gallery is thrilled to present Les Chingones, a group exhibition featuring the work of four nationally celebrated contemporary artists based or with roots in Utah. Les Chingones will be on view in Material Gallery from Friday, June 6, through Friday, July 11, 2025.
Les Chingones is a bold exhibition showcasing the work of artists Andrew Alba, Horacio Rodriguez, Kelly Tapia-Chuning, and Sara Serratos. Their practices confront, reclaim, and reimagine the cultural, political, and personal landscapes of the Latinx experience in the American West.
These artists embody the term chingón/chingona—a Spanish slang expression reclaimed to signify power, resistance, and excellence. In Latinx culture, 'chingón/chingona' is historically used to denote strength, resilience, and a rebellious spirit. Their work navigates a terrain shaped by colonization, migration, generational memory, and the ongoing struggle for representation and belonging. Through sculpture, painting, ceramic, textiles, photography, and mixed media, Les Chingones explores themes of identity, resilience, and transformation, often weaving humor, critique, and reverence into a complex visual language.
In Material's exhibition statement for Les Chingones, they write, "Rodriguez's ceramic sculptures remix Mesoamerican objects and iconography with street aesthetics and political commentary, creating a unique blend of traditional and contemporary elements. Alba's expressive paintings and sculptures, channel working-class histories and familial legacies through bold brushstrokes and vibrant colors. Tapia-Chuning's fiber-based works unravel the tensions between assimilation and heritage, dismantling serapes as an act of decolonization and honoring her ancestors. Serratos's pieces invoke the domestic and the ritualistic as spaces of both vulnerability and power, often using found objects, photography, and mixed media to create a sense of intimacy and depth."
Material will host an opening reception for Les Chingones on Friday, June 6, from 6:00-9 p.m., with an artist talk from 5:30-6:00 p.m. The exhibition will also be available for public viewing during gallery stroll on Friday, June 20, from 6:00-8 p.m., during the closing reception on Friday, July 11, from 6:00-8 p.m., and by appointment. Alba, Rodriguez, and Serratos will be present for the artist talk and the opening reception, providing an opportunity for visitors to engage with them and gain a deeper understanding of their work.
About the Artists
Andrew Alba
As a descendant of Mexican migrant workers, Andrew Alba often communicates anti-establishment narratives of the working class. Through abstraction and neo- expressionism, he evokes an emotional response while commenting on repeated histories, contemporary politics, society, family, and fatherhood. Andrew Alba is a prolific artist with a non-traditional background and a genuine love of communicating through thick, gestural application of oil paint and utilization of repurposed construction materials. As a self-taught artist, he creates work apart from the theoretical constraints and critical expectations of the academy.
Horacio Rodriguez
Horacio Rodriguez, an artist and educator originally from Houston, Texas, uses clay and mixed media, sometimes infused with appropriated imagery, to make work about the borders, both physical and psychological, that he has crossed throughout his life. He transforms and infuses new meaning into objects and symbols synonymous with pre-Hispanic and Mestizo culture, as well as the seductive visual language of Western culture. As a product of multiple cultures and identities, Rodriguez uses art as a vehicle to explore the creation of his personal narrative.
Sara Serratos
Sara Serratos is an interdisciplinary artist and art educator originally from Hidalgo, Mexico, now based in Salt Lake City. Sara’s art practice explores and addresses inhabitable spaces and the socio-environmental impact of architecture, particularly housing, landscapes, language, social constructs, cultural shock, and migration. Her artwork is informed by a sociological and decolonial perspective, rooted in her personal experiences. Engaging with various media, including film, digital and analog photography, video, sculpture, performance, text, and painting.
Kelly Tapia-Chuning
Kelly Tapia-Chuning (b. 1997, California) is a mixed Xicana artist of Indígena descent, living and working between Utah and Montana. Her multidisciplinary practice involves genealogical and historical research, textile appropriation and deconstruction, and large-scale needle felting. Through her work, Tapia-Chuning critically examines histories of assimilation, and the power dynamics related to cultural and racial identity, gender, and language.
About Material
Built on the collective vision of artists Jorge Rojas and Colour Maisch, Material is a multifaceted art space housing a commercial gallery, artist studios, classes and community events. Material exhibits local, national, and international artists through community-centered events and collaborations.
