Antonio M. Gómez: LINEAJES

LINEAJES interrupts the gilded display of paintings in Frye Salon with sights and sounds that foreground an intercultural artistic heritage long obscured by the Western canon. The exhibition presents the research of the Tacoma percussionist, producer, and educator Antonio M. Gómez (born 1971, Brownsville, Texas), who pursues the interwoven histories of world music. Relating his practice to the experience of mixed identity formed from the convergence of cultures—such as his own Chicano-Italian background—Gómez explores musical ties between the Americas, the Mediterranean, West Africa, and beyond.

The exhibition features a global array of instruments drawn from Gómez’s extensive collection, arranged in groupings that highlight transformations in form, style, and usage across time and geography. Live performances by the artist’s Trío Guadalevín and other invited ensembles supplement recorded soundscapes within the exhibition space. At Gómez’s invitation, the street artist Angelina Villalobos Soto, aka 179, created a mural of vines twisting around the paintings in Frye Salon, evoking intertwined cultural lineages and the continual metamorphosis of artistic expression.

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Antonio M. Gómez received the 2018 James W. Ray Distinguished Artist Award, funded by the Raynier Institute & Foundation through the Frye Art Museum | Artist Trust Consortium. The award supports and advances the creative work of outstanding artists living and working in Washington State and is accompanied by a presentation at the Frye Art Museum.