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Posted By Bryan Rindfuss on Fri, Jan 29, 2021 at 8:30 AM click to enlarge Bryan Rindfuss A reimagined barrack for braceros anchors José Villalobos’ new Artpace exhibition “De los Otros.” Protesting “the toxicity of machismo” has become a common thread in the work of José Villalobos, an El Paso native who draws creative inspiration from his experiences as a gay man who grew up in an evangelical Christian family embedded in the norteño culture that pervades the U.S.-Mexico border. After relocating to San Antonio, Villalobos enrolled in a fine arts program at UTSA and earned his BFA in 2016. The same year he graduated, he was among five local artists invited to participate in the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s Artist Lab, a development program facilitated by the New York-based Surdna Foundation. Titled “De la Misma Piel (Of the Same Skin),” Villalobos’ portion of the resulting show comprised tooled leather belts printed with homophobic slurs in Spanish (“jotito,” “mariposa” and “maricón” among them), ornate belt buckles that together spelled out “joto” and paintings of famed Mexican crooner Vicente Fernandez on scraps of leather. In addition to the defiant reclamation of derogatory terms hurled at homosexuals, “De la Misma Piel” introduced multiple themes that continue to distinguish Villalobos’ work: subversion of masculinity, pointed use of text, interventions on vaquero attire and nods to Fernandez — an icon capable of making even macho men cry.