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Casas

Continued from Page 1D.

In Bluebonnet Plague (Houston), Casas pokes fun at an artistic as well as geographic cliche. The lush color of the fragile blooms bursts in the central area of the canvas, its petals in overblown proportions. Casas relishes the wildflower's rare beauty of form and color, reminding us why it is so special. Then he decorates the edges of the painting with stencil-like portraits of the flower, like the pattern on wallpaper, its uniqueness and natural power destroyed through repetition until there's nothing left. 

The painting titled Penitentes (Galveston) alludes to darker, mysterious sources and events that have been transformed culturally into mere spectacle. Although penitentes are familiar in Mexico and areas of the Southwest, the image Casas creates is not. He depicts a magnificent coiled rattlesnake in diamond patterns of eggplant and green with a primary yellow rattle at the center of the composition.

The lower border is populated by triangular black shapes, perhaps representing the hoods of human penitentes, or maybe the jagged peaks of the Sonora desert. Their meaning, like the religious ceremony Casas gives us with the title, tears at the boundaries of known behavior - or landscape - to suggest the depth of religious conviction that drives the penitentes and is not suitable for tourists. 

Casas, who lives in San Antonio, has exhibited widely across the country, including the 1975 Whitney Biennial (New York) and in a solo exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Museum here the following year. He was a key figure in Jacinto Quirarte's book Mexican- American Artists (1973). Though he was not represented in the landmark Hispanic Art (1987) exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, he was included in The Latin American Spirit (1988). 

His recent paintings remain on view through June 3 at The Galveston Arts Center, 2127 Strand, (409) 763-2403. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-5 Sunday. Through June 9 at Ir-Rational, 1206 Hawthorne, 522-4657. Hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.