Elmhurst College features work by self-taught artist

Elmhurst College will exhibit drawings by Raul Maldonado, a Mexican immigrant and self-taught artist, through Friday, Sept. 23.

Highlighted by a reception from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, this exhibit will be on display in the Founders Lounge of the college’s Frick Center, 190 Prospect Ave. The public exhibit is free.

“I never thought in my life I’d be in a show with my drawings,” said Maldonado, 27, who works as a tree trimmer after stints as a landscaper, furniture mover and factory worker.

Maldonado, who has been drawing since 10, was inspired by the cartoons he watched on television growing up in Guanajuanto, Mexico.

He was “discovered” one afternoon in June 2009 when he walked into the park district community center in Hanover Park and asked whether he could empty his white plastic garbage bag of poster boards onto the floor so he could spread them out and look at the full piece he had drawn.

Susan Matthews, the arts coordinator, was so impressed with his work that she arranged a showing at the park district gallery.

Most recently, Maldonado’s exhibit “Esta Chido Todo” (“It’s All Cool”) has been running at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago.

His immense Prismacolor drawings are composed of a number of standard-size poster boards that he completes one section at a time.

He then numbers and very carefully assembles the boards, bringing together images ranging from stylized Japanese anime characters to traditional Mexican art.

Suellen Rocca, director of exhibitions and the college curator, describes Maldonado’s work as “a torrent of images influenced by Japanese anime graphics, Mexican themes and graffiti racing across the surface of these huge works, creating a delirious visual frenzy.”

Maldonado’s show is one of roughly a dozen exhibits that will be on display in Elmhurst College’s gallery spaces this year. It also is part of the college’s annual celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

For information, visit elmhurst.edu or call (630) 617-3390.