From Redbud Gallery:

"Redbud Gallery is proud to present “Nocturnal Musings,” an exhibition of ten paintings by Corpus Christi artist Joe Peña. Peña’s renderings of nightscape food trucks, storefronts, and other venues illuminated against the black nighttime skies represent his vision of a sense of identity and belonging – his concept of home. Food trucks have a long history in Mexican American culture, and Peña’s oil and ink paintings beautifully portray the heritage of this established tradition by inviting the viewer into his sublime late-night world. Entertainer Cheech Marin, an avid collector of Chicano art, first discovered Peña’s paintings in 2009 during a visit to Corpus Christi and has actively collected the artist since that time.

Free and open to the public Artist Statement My work explores elements of ethnic identity, including aspects of cultural, familial and social issues, relating to my Mexican heritage. This current series explores the use of urban landscapes utilizing food trucks, store fronts, and similar venues as a metaphor for the notion of home as an internal sense of place and not merely a physical location.  What began as a late-night visit to pick up food from a truck that I frequented, I was surprised to see that the streetlight that usually lit the area was not working resulting in the normally ordinary view to appear as if hovering and emerging from the blackness of space.  Some might have regarded this scene in terms of isolation or foreboding; I was instead struck with a sense of welcoming and belonging leading to the aforementioned concept of home.  Aesthetically, I am fascinated with the illuminated structures set against the rich darkness of the backgrounds in some of the paintings or the interaction of light between figures, objects, and locations in others."