By Andrew Waltz, Director of Arts Management, UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies
Art as Catalyst, Not Ornament
When it is at its most meaningful, art is not mere decoration or display. It is instead something that moves us profoundly. Art provokes thought, sparks connection, and invites us to see the world in new ways. It speaks across borders and generations.
That belief underscores the Division of Extended Studies Arts and Culture program mission—and it lies at the heart of A Universal Mexican: Maestro Sacal, an exhibition of the bold, surreal, and politically charged sculptures of José Sacal (1944–2018), on view now through September 30, 2025, at the UC San Diego Park & Market Gallery. Brought to life through a cross-border collaboration with Fundación Sacal and the Consulado General de México en San Diego, this exhibition is both a celebration of Sacal’s visionary art and a call to engage with the deeper questions it raises about justice, identity, and belonging.
Art as a Civic Dialogue
Sacal’s work doesn’t offer easy answers. His bronze and ceramic sculptures twist and stretch the human form, remaking icons like Einstein, Kahlo, Gandhi, and Churchill into figures that carry both cultural weight and political urgency. They invite us into discomfort and contemplation. They ask: What truths are we overlooking? What histories are we distorting? What futures are still possible?
A Civic Canvas at Park & Market
Presenting this work in the heart of downtown San Diego, in a space defined by civic access, public engagement, and learning beyond the classroom, feels especially significant. Park & Market is designed as a place where art is not just observed, but encountered. Exhibitions become points of convergence between communities, perspectives, and lived experience. Ideas move with purpose, out of the gallery and into the broader fabric of public life.
Throughout the process of producing A Universal Mexican, what has been most moving is the way this exhibition has already begun to open doors. In curating work like Sacal’s, we are not only broadening our aesthetic landscape, we are also affirming the power of underrepresented voices to shift civic conversations and deepen our sense of cultural empathy. It is one thing to admire an artist’s technique; it is another to allow that work to challenge how we think, how we relate, and how we grow together.
A Tapestry of Public Programming
This exhibition also reflects just one part of our wider tapestry of public programming. At UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies, we are committed to offering transformative experiences across a range of creative media. Alongside this powerful visual art presentation, we are proud to present the Burke and Edison lecture series, which bring thought leaders and journalists into vital civic dialogue, and our Intersections concert series, which showcases dynamic performances that fuse global traditions with contemporary expression. Together, these offerings form a living portfolio—diverse in form but unified in purpose. Each program is an opportunity to inspire, to convene, and to create space for new understandings.
Cross-Border Collaborations, Shared Purpose
This is also a moment of international and institutional collaboration worth celebrating. Through the leadership of Fundación Sacal, the Consulado General de México en San Diego, the U.S. Consulate General in Tijuana, Digital Gym Cinema, and many others, this project is a powerful example of what becomes possible when partners work across borders and disciplines to create something larger than themselves. These alliances do more than produce exhibitions. They build trust, foster understanding, and lay the groundwork for future cultural exchange.
Public Art as Lifelong Learning
As I reflect on what this exhibition represents, I am reminded of the essential role public art plays in our mission. Experiences like this one offer more than creative expression. They create moments of learning that are global in reach and intimate in impact. They allow visitors to encounter not only a work of art but a point of view, a cultural history, a new way of seeing.
Over the coming months, A Universal Mexican will continue to evolve, offering special programs, film screenings, and conversations that extend its reach beyond the gallery walls. More than anything, I hope the exhibition affirms what many of us in the arts already know to be true. Learning is lifelong. Empathy is expansive. Creativity is essential to a healthy and just society.
Shared Rituals, Lasting Impact
As we welcome visitors from across the San Diego-Tijuana region and beyond, I am continually inspired by how public exhibitions become shared rituals. They are spaces where strangers become neighbors and where difference becomes a starting point, not a barrier. These moments remind me why we do this work. Not just to present art, but to create meaning. To invite wonder. To offer connection.
An Invitation to Connect
We hope you will join us. Whether you are a student, a creative, a passerby, or someone simply curious about the world, we welcome you to experience A Universal Mexican. Let this be one of many steps we take together toward a more connected, compassionate, and creatively engaged future.
We look forward to welcoming you to Park & Market.
Andrew Waltz
Director, Arts Management
UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies
awaltz@ucsd.edu