Reception & Open Studios: Friday, July 5th, 2019 6-9pm
Exhibition: July 5-26, 2019
Kim Arthun, Frank McCulloch, Paul Akmajian, Inez Foose, Tina Fuentes, Larry Smith, Susan Ricker, Jeanette Williams, Wes Mills, and David Levinthal
Sanitary Tortilla Factory is pleased to host an exhibition of artists that shaped the historic path of artistic production in downtown Albuquerque. Deep creative roots and a commitment to artists was shaped by M & J’s Sanitary Tortilla owners Beatriz and Jake Montoya, Richard Levy and countless artists for over two decades. The exhibition includes many artists that showed work at the restaurant, historic images of the restaurant and lithographs created at 21 Steps.
February of last year, local legend, Frank McCulloch, stopped in at the current iteration of Sanitary Tortilla Factory. Frank had just attended the funeral for the owner of the original Sanitary Tortilla Factory, Jake Montoya. Coffee that brisk morning opened a time capsule of Art, Love and Tortillas. Frank’s stories, exhibition announcements highlighted a vibrant arts scene beginning in the early 1970s. Frank McCulloch and Tina Fuentes often “grabbed a taco” during a break from the studio and artist fondly remark that art returned from the restaurant carried the aroma of tortilla chips. In the late 80’s Richard Levy and Jeff Ryan of 21 Steps, a waterless lithography shop worked with renown artists including, Lorna Simpson, James Casebere, Wes Mills, David Levinthal, Thomas Barrow, Frank Romero and Patrick Nagatani.