Mission Statement for "El Otro Ojo" ("The Other Eye")
Galeria de Arte Atomico - 1811 W.Commerce Street, San Antonio, TX

The Plan: My goal for El Otro Ojo is provide an artspace which will lure not only the countless regular tourists who flood our downtown, but more importantly, the cultural tourist from Europe and Japan. This space will display the many forms of arte unique to this region. Although open to all, graffiti, chicano art and works of art in tile, will be the main focus. Works which explore the Mexican American experience will be emphazised. Works of art hardly found exhibited in or close to downtown. These expressions are vital to an area virtually ignored by the downtown affluence machine. El Otro Ojo will bring hope and a means of expression and belonging, especially to the artistic youth in this area. We can launch careers. Break dancers can perform at our openings. Accordian and bajo sexto polkas and rancheras can be played live by budding musicians or seasoned senores y senoras. These can be filmed and played back on a screen during regular business hours.

Cultural tourists are vital to this city. They generally stay twice as long as conventioneers and spend, I believe I read this also in the paper, three times more and usually take back a piece of art to show their friends back home. Free and convincing advertising for our space and San Antonio. Exhibits can be scheduled to provide ample time for the cultural tourist to plan a trip.

If feasible, I would like to occupy half of the space on Commerce Street. A gift shop is essential to generate funds. We could offer pano art as well as signed artprints and postcards of artist’s work for tourists to take back home.

I have always felt that San Antonio can be an even more exciting major cultural city than it is today when you highlight aesthetics historically significant to this area. That the artistic talent and visionary imagination of our forgotten youth is like a buried gem awaiting it’s opportunity to be unearthed. To shine and illuminate the barrios with hope and enlightenment.

There was an article a few years ago in our newspaper written by a journalist from Washington who visited our city because he wanted to see the Missions, the Alamo and Riverwalk . This is not absolutely accurate in every word but this is what I remember reading. When he got here and got a downtown hotel, he ran into a Mexican American freind he’d known from college. The next five days of his stay were spent in the barrios listening to live conjunto music, dining at family owned Mexican restaurants, digging in record shops for his favorite rancheras and polkas and conversing over beers with the people here at classic Ice Houses (Llelerias). Conversations, I believe, which replenished his soul and faith in simple pleasures. I believe also, that he probably busted a piñata in some backyard barbecue. What are the odds? As he was leaving downtown headed for home in a cab on Sunday night, they drove by the Alamo. He thought, I completely forgot. I hardly even stepped on the riverwalk. He almost felt bad. But he thought, no, this hidden Mexican American culture is what makes this city unique and alive. Apparently the experience was memorable.

I have always believed that the poor and downtrodden are especially and truly capable of great art. El Otro Ojo, is the exhibition space to realize this rare opportunity.

I hope that in the near future, we can also plan a Chicano Art Museum. I have friends who have so much Latino art, they don’t know where to store it. It should also be located in this area. We could have a permanent collection as well as blockbuster exhibits.

I have recently had a graphic novel published which took thirteen years to accomplish. Los Vryosos (the Radiant Ones) –A Tale From the Varrio. This novel glorifies the Westside of San Antonio. I have had some great reviews by readers who have read it. I will include one in this E-mail. I believe my story will eventually draw readers to the setting. The Westside.

Adan Hernandez, 2006

Adan Hernandez - Artist/Author - Brief Bio/’06

 The son of migrant workers, Adan Hernandez grew up on the Westside of San Antonio, TX and attended Edgewood High School on 34th street. He has been a serious artist for thirty years. His work is included in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the U.S. and Mexico. His collectors include many Hollywood insiders including Taylor Hackford ("Ray"., "Proof of Life"), Sean Ferrer, Oliver Stone, Cheech Marin, Ben Bratt and Helen Mirren among others. His work is shown regularly in Los Angeles. Adan created all the original artwork for the character Cruz in the barrio classic: Blood In… Blood Out. His work has recently been included in Cheech Marin’s blockbuster traveling exhibition "Chicano Visions: American Painters On the Verge", which has broken attendance records in museums across America and will travel to Mexico, Europe and Tokyo in the next few years. Los Vryosos-A Tale From the Varrio, a drama about life on the Westside, is his first novel. This libro contains over forty images of original art.