René Arceo
Chicago, IL
Born in Mexico, Arceo graduated with a fine arts degree and an art teacher certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. With support from the Illinois Arts Council he promoted and exhibited his works in Mexico, France and Poland. In 2018, the Lucerne-Chicago Sister City awarded him an Art Residency in Lucern, Switzerland. Arceo lives in Chicago where he co-founded the Galeria Ink Works (1984-87) and the Mexican Printmaking Workshop (1990-96). He founded Arceo Press in 2005 to foster international collaborations among printmakers. Arceo Press has published 14 print portfolios to date (www.ArceoPress.com). He is currently a member of Mid America Print Alliance, Consejo Grafico Nacional (a national network of Latino print shops), Expressions Graphics and the Chicago Society of Artists.
Do You Get It?
Linocut & Acrylic
The idea of this print comes from the fact that on this planet there is only one race; the human race. What I mean by this is that all superficial differences on people appear differently because their geographic origin, history, lineage, topography, climate and environment have influenced and shaped the way they look. A person in the mountains of Mexico or Peru would need shorter body and strong legs to go up and down the mountains and some protection against the sun so the melanin would kick in to protect the skin resulting in a brownish color. Likewise, someone in Africa would need long legs and body to move across long distances on flat terrain and lots of melanin to protect against the intense sun resulting in a much darker skin. People who live in icy northern countries have much lighter skin because they are seldom exposed to the sun and thus they have no melanin in their bodies. There is no mystery, it has been scientifically proven that genetically we are the same underneath our skin color.
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