ROY presents: Batres Gilvin

Similar Familiar

Batres Gilvin, an artist collaborative in Greater Cincinnati, is comprised of Karla Batres and Bradly Gilvin, life partners who met in 2011 while studying at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. In a multiethnic partnership that joins the personal with the professional, Batres’ Mexican American heritage and Gilvin’s Southern American roots are a catalyst for complicated conversations about difference, otherness, and identity. In their Morning View, Kentucky studio located on the property of the Gilvin family farm and homestead, Batres Gilvin explores the local and global implications of immigration. Their artistic work is informed as much by larger, political conversations as it is by life on the farm and daily interactions with Bradly and Karla’s immediate and extended family. In Batres Gilvin’s artistic work art becomes life and vice versa. As a multiethnic collaborative, Batres Gilvin is a study in contradictions. Playful irreverence exists alongside unflinching solemnity. An unsparing commentary on the inequities of US immigration policy is wrapped in sparkly, kitschy imagery, providing a sugar-coated dose of truth serum, Mexican American style. In Batres Gilvin’s world, contradiction is both material and tool; it is also a reminder of the complexity of humans and the necessity of holding space for difficult conversations. 

ROY Asks

What is your name and preferred pronouns?

Our collaborative name is Batres Gilvin and our individual names are Karla Batres Gilvin (pronouns she/her) and Bradly Gilvin (pronouns he/him)

How has art (whether it be your own or art in general) changed you?

Art has been a constant guide for many of our decisions. Art is also the reason we met. We first met each other in a Drawing 1 class while attending the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 2011. The meeting eventually led to a friendship, the friendship to a relationship and the relationship to a collaborative, artistic partnership. Our shared love of art has continually nurtured and pushed us on a personal and professional level. For this reason, we see art as the foundation to our joint lives. 

How did you start your artistic practice?

It is hard to pinpoint how our artistic practices started as creativity and a love of making has come naturally to both of us. We are both fascinated with unconventional materials, learning new techniques, and the everyday world around us. Just as our separate artistic practices started almost instinctively, our combined collaborative practice also naturally formed. 

When a first-time viewer sees your work, what is the first word that your hope they think when looking at your work? 

Playful