Michael Menchaca The Codex Silex Vallis (The Silicon Valley Codex)

In The Codex Silex Vallis (The Silicon Valley Codex), Michael Menchaca visualizes how the growing tech industry—largely based out of Silicon Valley—is infiltrating traditional Latinx family customs in the United States. In large scale, Menchaca explores the imagery and themes from his eponymously-titled series through a variety of media, including a site-specific wallpaper installation, new paintings, drawings, screen and digital print, videos, 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), among others. Exhibitions include The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (AR), The McNay Art Museum (TX), The Davis Museum (MA), North Carolina Museum of Art (NC), The Chrysler Museum of Art (VA), The Gilcrease Museum (OK), The Contemporary Austin (TX), and the IPCNY (NY). He was a Visual Arts Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center from 2015 – 2016 in Provincetown, MA, and is a recipient of the 2019 National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) Fund for the Arts Grant. Through 2020, he is co-curating the New York/San Antonio exhibition Xicanx: New Visions with Suzy González. Menchaca lives and works in San Antonio, TX.

Claudia Zapata is curator, writer, artist, and doctoral candidate in Southern Methodist University’s RASC/a: Rhetorics of Art, Space and Culture: Ph.D. Program in Art History. She received her BA and MA from the University of Texas in Art History, specializing in Classic Maya art. Her research interests include curatorial methodologies of identity-based exhibitions, Chicanx and Latinx art, digital humanities,
people of color zines, and designer toys.

Special thanks to The Studios at MASS MoCA, Elida Bocanegra, Kevin Menchaca, Suzy González, Lucy González, Manny González, Lucy González, and Claudia Zapata; Lawndale staff Stephanie Mitchell, Emily Butts, Emily Fens, and Andrea Allen and Advisory Board Members Peter Gershon, Nick Barbee, Andy Campbell, Jamal Cyrus, Natilee Harren, and Autumn Knight and interns Pilar Emiliani, Hannah Grunwald, Sumin Hwang, Courtney Khim, Caroline Sharpless, and Celia Tran; installers Michael Bhichitkul, Juan Castillo, Jonathan Clark, David Cobb, and Angel Lartigue; and volunteers Kabir Abiose, Ana Arbelaez, JJ Baker, Jim Brown, Zoie Buske, Gustavo Eduardo, Karen Eisele, Sarah Fisher, Michelle Gude, ,Shang yi Hua, Minsu Kwon, August Lewis, Benji Stiles, and Linda Wu.