Michael Menchaca
The Codex Silex Vallis (The Silicon Valley Codex) attempts to visualize how the growing tech industry is infiltrating traditional Latinx family customs in the United States. Menchaca wants to demystify the Latinx perspective regarding innovative technology by narrating the ways in which Latinx cultural traditions, ancestral bonds, and familial communication are currently undergoing a 21st century evolution by way of Silicon Valley tech. It represents Latinx usage of social media apps, video chat services, ride-share technology, and online marketplace experiences in order to document a current generational transformation. In large scale, he explores the imagery and themes from this eponymously-titled series through a variety of media, including site-specific wallpaper installation, new paintings, drawings, screen and digital prints, digital animation, and virtual reality.
Born in 1985 in San Antonio, TX, Michael Menchaca received his BFA from Texas State University in 2011, and his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2015. He has been an Artist-in-Residence at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (ME), Vermont Studio Center (VT), The Wassaic Project (NY), The Segura Arts Studio (IN), and The Studios at MASS MoCA (MA).