event Xavier Tavera: Farsas

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.

Wrestling is the soap opera of sports, and Mexican wrestling is the soapiest of soap operas, full of ludicrous characters, masks, and put-on machismo.  Minneapolis-based photographer Xavier Tavera captured that spirit in Luchas, a series of portraits of wrestlers from 2004 that forms part of Farsas, Tavera's mini-retrospective at the Weisman Art Museum. Also on display: Enmascarados, commissioned for a storefront in 2003 and rejected as too confrontational—and it's easy to see how the ski-masked men reaching out to the viewer, both threatening and inviting, got such an intense response. The final part of the triad is El Circo, a set of recent photos casting everyday people as circus performers. Tavera's work serves as a reminder of the theatrical absurdity of everyday life, and the ways people try to escape it.