papa joe
Evita Tezeno, 2008
Evita Tezeno (b. 1960) is a Port Arthur, Texas native and graduate of Lamar University. She lives and works in Dallas.
Evita Tezeno’s collage paintings employ richly patterned hand-painted papers and found objects in a folk-art style. Her work depicts a cast of characters in harmonious everyday scenes inspired by her family and friends, childhood memories in South Texas, personal dreams, and moments from her adult life—and influenced by the great 20th century modernists Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and William H. Johnson—scenes of joy animate her vision of a Black America filled with humanity.
As the recipient of the prestigious 2023 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Fine Arts from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York and the Elizabeth Catlett Award for The New Power Generation, Tezeno has built a career as an acclaimed multi-disciplinary artist. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Dallas Museum of Art; African American Museum of Dallas; Perez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA; Embassy of the Republic of Madagascar; Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH; Bill and Christy Gautreaux Collection, Kansas City, MO; and Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Palm Beach, FL; among others. In addition, her work has been acquired by prominent collectors, entertainers, media personalities and athletes, including Esther Silver-Parker, Samuel L. Jackson, David Hoberman, Denzel Washington, Star Jones, Laurie David, and Susan Taylor, among others. She has been awarded commissions by the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, The Deep Ellum Film Festival in Dallas, and the legendary New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (“Jazz Fest”), where in 1999 she became the first female artist to design its celebrated Congo Square poster.
Her work has been published and featured in numerous publications and media outlets, including Artforum, Artillery Magazine, Art Matters with Edward Goldman, Document Journal, Black Art in America, Collective Arts Network Journal, Culture Type, The Dallas Examiner, D Magazine, Dallas Morning News, Dallas Woman , Eclipse Magazine, Fort Worth Star Telegram, Glasstire, Harper’s Bazaar, North Dallas Gazette, ONYX Magazine, The Shreveport Times, Visionary Art Collective, Visual Art Source, Vogue , NBC 5 – DFW (video), and MAG-RAW Creations (video).
DETAILS
Title: Papa Joe
Creator: Evita Tezeno
Date Created: 2021
Physical Dimensions: h 9 in. w 8 in.
Medium: Hand pulled color collagraph on paper, edition #2/17
