Before the Fall: The Architecture of Vulnerability

A Solo Exhibition by Ray Smith

February 19 – May 23, 2026

The next exhibition at the San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum is Before the Fall: The Architecture of Vulnerability, a solo exhibition by internationally recognized artist Ray Smith. (San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum, 2026)

On view from February 19 through May 23, 2026, the exhibition examines contemporary social realities through reflection, distortion, and repurposed materials.

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About the Exhibition

With family roots in the Rio Grande Valley and the recent opening of an additional studio in this region, this exhibition carries personal and symbolic significance for Smith. It grounds his work in a borderlands perspective shaped by history, movement, and lived experience. He currently divides his time between New York, Cuernavaca, Mexico, and Raymondville, Texas.

Before the Fall brings together two distinct bodies of work:

• Large-scale oil paintings created between 2000 and early 2001
• Mixed-media works produced in 2018, featuring vivid color applied to discarded plexiglass mirrors assembled into wall partitions

In both series, Smith treats material and space as active elements of meaning. The mirrored works produce distortions that feel both strange and familiar, inviting viewers to encounter their own reflections within the artwork. Though painted years apart, the images resonate with contemporary uncertainty and the fragility of systems once assumed to be stable.

Instead of providing conclusions, the exhibition uses reflection, spatial arrangement, and restraint to create space for contemplation.

Visitors are encouraged to consider how experience, identity, and vulnerability are shaped, and reimagined, through perception and lived space.

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Opening Reception

The opening reception for Before the Fall: The Architecture of Vulnerability will be held:

Thursday, February 19, 2026
5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum

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Plan Your Visit

Museum Hours

• Monday – Thursday: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Friday: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Guided tours and in-person access are available throughout the exhibition.

Location
San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum
250 E. Heywood St.
San Benito, TX 78586