Double Trouble: Enrique Chagoya and Kara Maria

Born in Mexico City, Enrique Chagoya’s father encouraged his interest in art from an early age. Chagoya eventually pursued an education in Political Economy at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where he contributed political cartoons to union newsletters. At age 26, Chagoya moved to Berkeley, California, and began working as a free-lance illustrator and graphic designer. Disheartened by economics programs in local colleges, Chagoya enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute, where he earned a BFA in printmaking in 1984. He then pursued his MA and MFA at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1987. In 2017, he received an Honorary Doctorate degree from the San Francisco Art Institute. Chagoya has exhibited his work nationally and internationally for over two decades. Exhibition highlights include: Retrospective “Borderlandia” Des Moines Art Center in Iowa, 2007 (traveled to UC Berkeley Art Museum and to the Palms Spring Art Museum, 2008); “Palimpsesto Canibal/Cannibal Palimpsest” first major traveling survey in Europe organized by ARTIUM Museum, 2013, traveled to Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno-CAAM, 2015; “Eye to I: Self Portraits From 1900 to Today” at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, 2019. Chagoya’s work can be found in major museum collections in New York, California, Mexico and Spain.

Kara Maria first began her studies at a music conservatory in the east coast. She would eventually find her way traveling and studying through Europe. She then moved to San Francisco in 1990 to attend UC Berkeley. Maria received her BA in Art Practice in 1993 and MFA in 1998. She has exhibited work in solo and group shows throughout the United States at venues including the Nevada Museum of Art; the Cantor Center at Stanford University; the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, Texas; the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art; and the Katonah Museum of Art in New York; among many others. Her work has garnered critical attention in the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Art in America. Maria was awarded artist residencies at the Montalvo Arts Center, Recology Artist in Residence Program, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and the de Young’s Artist Studio. She is the recipient of many awards and honors, including a grant from Artadia, New York, NY; an Eisner Prize in Art from UC Berkeley; and the Masterminds Grant from SF Weekly. Maria’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA); the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (Achenbach Foundation); the San Jose Museum of Art; and the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University; among others. Artwork is available through Anglim/Trimble Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID; and Mark Moore Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA.