2026 Artists Featured Artists
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Robert Wilkens is blessed to be a purgatory artist; seeing two worlds and trapped in neither. Born Roberto (Toto) Alonso Dorantes, his adoption at age eleven, provides his Anglo name. Robert resolved to be an artist at age 23.
Inspired by Michelangelo and DaVinci, he began his work doing murals and trompe l'oeil. His commissions are in Texas churches, businesses, homes, and culminated with the Theater Room of the White House for First Lady Laura Bush, His work is collected throughout the United States and Mexico.
He remains open and continues to develop a diverse range of styles, subject matters, and mediums, including sculpture, plein air, portraits, still life, and is known in San Antonio for his Day of the Dead paintings.
Determined to find his own voice as an artist, his current work uses realism, surrealism, and expressionism in an attempt to expand consciousness and challenge intellectual reality.
AWARDS
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2nd Place for Standing Strong, Plein Air Brush Creek Art Walk, Kansas City, MO
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1st Place for Surfing the Net, Sienna Art Festival, Sienna, TX
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Best of Show, Boca Raton Fine Art Show, Boca Raton, FL
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on Fine Arts Show, Richardson, TXMerchants Award for Irish Eyes, Richards
PUBLICATIONS
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Plein AIr Magazine, 2019
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Architectural Digest, 2022
GROUP and SOLO SHOWS
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92nd All-Texas Juried Exhibition, San Antonio Art League Museum, TX
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64th National Juried Art Exhibition, Rocky Mount, NC
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56th Annual Regional Juried Art Exhibition, Richardson Civic Center, TX
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Lubbock Arts Festival, Juried Gallery, Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, TX
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Bell Gallery, Beloit Art Center, Wisconsin
GALLERIES
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SAAC, La Cantera Gallery, San Antonio, TX
Robert Wilkens
Using a wide array of skills and coupling them with his fascination on the concepts of time and configuration of spaces. Studying sculpture, painting, and art installation at the University of Texas at San Antonio, plus a year abroad in Europe, it was during these formative years that Esparza began to establish his vision. However, it wasn’t until a near deadly car accident that his work took its most drastic and perhaps inspiring turn. Now, Esparza’s art speaks with many layers and depths, guiding his viewers into a carefully crafted journey — whether it be through suspending thousands of origami cranes poignantly fashioned from a hospital bill or through a combination of brushstrokes over the course of a relationship to create the feeling of a love lost. The viewer is not only impacted by the work, but slowly begins to piece together an underlying theme, opening themselves up to their own wondrous exploration of thought.
Michael Esparza
Juan Miguel Ramos is truly a product of San Antonio’s art education. He began his training at the age of eight, when he attended the Southwest School of Arts and Crafts. Subsequently, Ramos studied art at the San Antonio Art Institute and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, eventually earning a BFA and MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Ramos is a cofounder of San Anto Cultural Arts (SACA), a nonprofit community resource for artistic and spiritual growth. He is featured in permanent collections throughout the globe and currently has a solo exhibition on view at Artpace.
I'll have to see if he has an updated hi res pic.
