Dawn (Or Despair)

Maceo Montoya is an author, artist, educator who comes from a well-known family of artists and writers. His late brother was Andrés Montoya, an award-winning poet; and both their father Malaquías Montoya, and uncle, José Montoya, were pioneers of the Chicano Art Movement in the Bay Area. In part inspired by their ideals but also by the broader history of art, in his own work Maceo Montoya takes a distinct approach to focusing on social issues. He often portrays laborers and ordinary people living and working in small rural towns, but his interest lies in exploring their psychology and relationship to their environment, rather than presenting a specific political argument.

In Dawn (or Despair), two men walk through a cultivated field at daybreak; the dramatic light of dawn that highlights their features betrays Montoya’s love for Baroque painters. Are these figures connected to the land as owners or hired laborers, or are they just passing through? The darkening sky suggests an impending storm, which could bring nurturing rain or severe destruction. The ambiguities in this scene invite viewers to create their own narratives.