Gloria Osuna Pérez (b. 1947, d. 1999) depicted people with deep, cinnamon-colored skin, making them appear more than portraits of friends and family. The artist, who painted but also worked with clay, called her paintings “supraportraits,” meaning beyond or above portraits. This exhibition, drawn from the El Paso Museum of Art’s collection and including key loans, features several of Osuna Pérez’s paintings, an installation, as well as original book illustrations that suggest for her the idea of a vessel was always present. Gloria Osuna Pérez may have turned to her own family and life for inspiration, but her images of people—children with elders, life-long friends—are universal. They speak to the vessels that bind people and community for us all.

Support for this exhibition is provided by the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation.