Rolando Briseño ‘tablescapes’ on view in San Antonio

As far back as Rolando Briseño can remember, he has been thinking about food. He grew up in a traditional Mexican American household in San Antonio, where meals were taken at the dinner table. Briseño experienced more formal dining in Mexico, where five-course lunches were served on separate plates with considerable pageantry. Briseño was shocked to discover that for many of his fellow students in the U.S. the table was not the locus of meals. Instead, they dined in front of the TV. 

This experience inspired one of his most famous series of paintings, “tablescape,” in which Briseño explored and sometimes anticipated the interpenetration of dining with electronic media, including television, computers, and cell phones. His tablescapes are dynamic tableaus rather than static “still lifes.”

Briseño also became a historian of foods native to the Americas. He studied the human engineering of these foods, the development of traditional recipes, and the dissemination of these vital foodstuffs to the rest of the world, which had a transformative effect on world culture and politics. 

These experiences and research come together in “Dining with Rolando Briseño: A 50-Year Retrospective” on view from September 5th through February 9, 2025, at the Centro de Artes Gallery in San Antonio’s Market Square.

This is the first retrospective devoted to Rolando Briseño, now 72. The exhibition is compiling pieces from his life’s work including more than 75 works in 10 sections, featuring drawings, lithographs, paintings, photographs, and work in the public art space, dating from 1966 to the present day. Included in the retrospective is some work that survived a devastating fire which destroyed his home and studio in 1985.

Briseño wanted his work to be available to the general public, rather than the limited—often exclusive—public that frequents art galleries and museums. Public artworks are part of the urban fabric, and Briseño endeavored to endow his commissions with social meaning. Displaying his artwork at the Centro de Artes Gallery in downtown San Antonio, which is free and open to all, is a perfect fit. 

About the Artist

Briseño attended art classes at the Witte Museum in San Antonio during grade school (1958-1966) and subsequently took private art classes (1966-1970). He studied at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City (1970) and Cooper Union (1970-71) in New York City. At UT Austin (1972-75), he received a BA in Art History and a BFA in painting, studying a semester in Peru with Fernando de Szyszlo.

Briseño identified as a Chicano, and he joined the influential San Antonio-based Con Safo art group during its final period (1975-76).

Briseño invented his tablescapes at Columbia University in New York, where he received his MFA (1979) in sculpture. During his 1986 residency at Yaddo, Briseño made paintings that used living grass as brushes. They inspired his dynamic brushstrokes that evoke movement.

Artistic Philosophy

Briseño is “fascinated that everything is made out of microscopic elements that are in constant movement, just like the heavenly bodies of the universe.”

He includes the mirroring structures of the microcosm and macrocosm in his artworks, where one can find references to molecules, elements, quarks, and planets. His tablescapes reconcile nature and culture: the tables themselves (along with other manufactured objects) symbolize culture, whereas the foodstuffs reference nature.

About Centro de Artes Gallery

Located in the heart of downtown San Antonio’s Zona Cultural on the grounds of Historic Market Square, Centro de Artes Gallery is a two-story exhibit space dedicated to telling the story of the Latino experience with a focus on South Texas through local and regional art, history and culture and showcasing Latino artists and Latino-themed artworks. It is always free to visit. More information is available at www.sanantonio.gov/arts and follow us at @getcreativesa. #CentroDeArtesSA