Arceo Press Uplifts Artists in Chicago and Beyond

By Adrienne Samuels Gibbs

When it comes to visiting alum René Arceo’s (BFA 1985) printmaking shop in the west side of Chicago, searching for the correct address is not a concern. There is an obvious outside tell: an outsized green and white mural painted over the building’s garage doors.

The mural’s seven-foot-tall imagery is distinctly Arceo’s, with its meticulous outlines of a man wearing a sombrero, an Indigenous woman, and several fish—all a nod to the heritage of Mexican printmaking—tinged with the artist’s own focus on spirituality, migration, and indigeneity. 

“It’s my house—my home,” said Arceo, gesturing to the colorful gallery walls lined with framed prints that enclose and inform his simple, lower-level workspace aptly named Arceo Press. The studio made headlines in the early 1990s with Arceo’s co-founding of the printmaking collective Taller Mexicano de Grabado. Arceo, who is also a curator and a teacher, has uplifted Chicago artists and a global cadre of printmakers for decades. His studio location for the last 10 years builds upon this history of connections and community.

Upon arrival (and after stopping to admire the garage art), you access the studio by walking through the front door, past a wall of books, and through a lime green kitchen to a set of antique basement stairs. “Almost my whole basement is dedicated to the studio. I have three presses. What I have done is make the space here available for those artists who want to work here who may not have a studio or access to a press.”

Arceo also writes, prints, and publishes exhibition catalogues, portfolios, and books for collectors and art history aficionados in addition to maintaining his own practice after decades of working at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen and as a public school teacher.

“I’ve seen there’s a need to tell the stories of artists in the city,” Arceo said.

The main press sits in the center of the floor, surrounded by long tables and even longer drawers filled with linoleum, various papers, and unframed prints. The top of his main press has some works already stacked on top. One is Santitos, a portfolio collection of prints by global artists that all riffed off Arceo’s idea of a print collaboration that references Catholic imagery.

In the pages are works depicting Saint Gabriel, who represents creativity; Santa Cecelia, protector of musicians; Saint Anthony, the protector of lost things, and more. Artists as varied as Brooklyn’s Benjamin Varela and Canada’s Claude Aimee Villeneuve make an appearance there. 

“I’m always inviting people that I know, or people who refer me to someone else," Arceo explained of the artists who worked on Santitas and other projects. "I like to work with the younger generations and also I like to create a mixed experience.”

This is where Arceo Press shines: global connection and community printmaking. Arceo will encourage a student to carve linoleum and in the next breath provide a history of Chicago’s wall murals and their ties to Mexican art greats. His carefully curated portfolio projects include dozens of artists from around the world: Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Spain, Canada, and France often make the list. The essays and books are always printed in Spanish, English, and sometimes in French. Some recently published works include Trazando Territorios: el Arte del Exilio en Pilsen-Chicago (published in connection with The Mexican Cultural Institute in Paris, France) and the children’s book Cosmic Rabbits.

“This was my original idea, to do these collaborations with artists from different countries, but at the same time also find exhibition opportunities by producing prints,” he explained. “They can decide to display just the prints themselves or they have the means to frame them also for an exhibition.”

Arceo came to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) by way of a family friend, Professor Emeritus Harold Allen. Allen photographed Arceo’s early work, and those photos became part of Arceo’s SAIC application.

His latest solo exhibition for Citlalin Gallery and Theater, Espiritu de Resistencia, captures the essence of the printmaking tradition created in the 1800s by Arceo’s muse, the artist Jose Guadalupe Posada. When artists visit the Arceo Press space, they learn about Posada and how they fit into this rich tradition.

“I don't mind having strangers here,” Arceo said as he adjusted some prints that were wrapped for transport to the Citlalin Gallery and Theater. “There is a long tradition in Mexico that talks about a social commitment, of a search for justice, and those sorts of things that are involved in the social context of printmaking. That is the reason I’m here.” ■