STANFORD, CA.- An exhibition of the recent work of Enrique Chagoya, professor of art and art history, is on view at the Coulter Art Gallery in the McMurtry Building through Dec. 6.

The survey of paintings, drawings and prints, titled Detention at the Border of Language, spans two decades in Chagoya’s career and is presented by the Department of Art and Art History.

The works date from 1998 and include five, completed this year, that have never been exhibited before.

In his work, Chagoya says he uses satire and humor to “open the doors to thought-provoking situations we all experience.” Creating art, he says, helps him exorcise anxieties and think about positive changes.

“I believe that everybody is an alien. I think that we all come from somewhere else,” Chagoya, who was born and raised in Mexico, writes in his artist statement for the exhibition.

He writes: “Nobody is pure ethnically. Those times are gone. Maybe there was never any purity in human history in terms of ethnicity because we are all part of the same genome. Personally, I feel that I am a citizen of a borderless country, and I know people who are also from that country. These are people who generally have experience moving from one place to another. My experiences have made me realize that I am from everywhere and from nowhere.”

Coulter Art Gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The gallery will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, Nov. 26-29.