Blue Star Contemporary celebrates the 30th birthday of the innovative contemporary art space this month through a variety of works now on display.

“The Blue Star Exhibition,” the original exhibition of June 1986, inspired the works featured in the Main Gallery.

Artists selected for the aptly titled “Homage” exhibition received the title and description details of works from the 1986 exhibition to create an oeuvre of distinct mediums.

Video works by Michele Monseau, a UTSA alumnus, explore the corporate abuse of the environment and the discrepancies between individual experience of architecture and landscape.

San Antonio resident David Almaguer’s aerosol mural and acrylic painting complexly creates “celebration of the ideal rather than reality” allowing the viewer to reminisce about nostalgic childhood memories, a universal part of the human experience. Other fine works include screenprints by Joe Harjo, manipulated paper-based works by Jennifer Khoshbin, cardinal streaked collage work by Anthony Rundblade, UTSA alumna Andrei Renteria’s sociopolitical inspired works and Ed Saavedra’s gritty paintings.

Adjacent to “Homage,” three exhibitions approach the space in unique and progressive ways. “The Blue Hour (A clock stopped),” cyano-works by Jessica Halonen investigate “art and science through the exploration of the pigment Prussian Blue (#003153).” Halonen’s exhibition alludes to the elusive moment between day and night where an ephemeral blue covers the sky.

Gallery 4 currently houses “M*dres,” a series of silkscreen prints by Julia Barbosa Landois. The work produced by Landois for this exhibition employs the use of “madre”/ “mom”/ “mother” as a central motif contrasting the connotations of phrases in Spanish that may not be the most mom-friendly in English. Landois’ work also satirically contrasts the mundane aspects of life with the performance artist’s persona.

John Steck Jr. reminds the viewer of the fragility and mortality of the transience captured in photographs in “Turning Memory,” the Project Space exhibit. Steck uses gelatin silver paper with photographic images developed without chemicals or a darkroom to create an unforgettable impression of a vanishing image, memory and moment.

“Homage,” “The Blue Hour,” “M*dres” and “Turning Memory” are on display until May 7; students receive free admission with their student I.D.