Orange Vendor, 2000
Painted wood sculpture; 65x30x8 in.

Born 1950 in San Miguel, El Salvador, Edgar Aparicio immigrated to the United States in 1983 after suffering a number of profound personal tragedies as a result of the Salvadoran civil war. Utilizing a range of styles and techniques, including woodworking, papier-mâché, and the use of recycled metals, fabric and wood, Aparicio makes wood relief sculptures, ceramic figurines and paintings that examine the history and indigenous culture of his native country. Themes of human rights, immigration, detention and deportation, separation and exile, and love and family abound in his poignant, skillfully handcrafted mixed-media tableaux. He began to make art as a child, when he learned woodcarving, metalwork and papier-mâché in a grade school art class in San Miguel. Many of Aparicio's works, such as the relief carving titled "The Virgin, Jesus and the Revolution," portray events in the lives of the campesino or peasant farmer. Others, such as "Deportación," depict the tragedy of familial separation: A woman gazes longingly at a man and a child through a barbed wire cell, close enough to touch but torn apart by politics. Aparicio studied architecture at the National University of El Salvador and studied art at the Instituto Allende-San Miguel de Allende, GTO, Mexico and Los Angeles City College.

Deportación, 1998
Painted wood/metal sculture; 22x18x8 in