Chicano Art

La frontera entre México y los Estados Unidos es el tema programático del arte performativo de Guillermo Gómez-Peña, un artista chicano quien emigró a los Estados Unidos a los 22 años. Autodenominándose “borderólogo” el artista se dedica a poner la frontera en escena de manera lúdica, subversiva y multicéntrica. Su estilo se caracteriza por una estética experimental en que se mezclan expresiones de la cultura pop con declaraciones políticas y una actitud didáctica. Como “borderólogo” Gómez-Peña desafía las fronteras mentales que predeterminan el contacto entre las culturas: En muchos de sus performances se auto-estiliza de manera exageradamente grotesca como delincuente, cuestionando así la imagen estereotípica que existe del mexicano en los Estados Unidos.
En mi contribución analizaré la dinámica entre las fronteras puestas y su transgresión que se manifiesta en la perspectiva fronteriza de Gómez-Peña a nivel cultural y nacional, simbólico y lingüístico. Con los ejemplos de “El Psycho-Linguist” y “Border Interrogation” (del álbum Ethno Techno, 2004) examinaré la transculturalidad en su dimensión de concepto fronterizo. En el contexto de la identidad híbrida y la experiencia migratoria chicanas quiero operar con los términos de exclusión, demarcación y transculturación para mostrar cómo la borderología de Gómez-Peña se mueve entre fronteras puestas, marcadas y superadas.

Contemporary Latin American and Latinx artists who engage with pre-Hispanic and early colonial book histories have adapted the materials, formats, or iconographies of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century books and objects of knowledge transfer. Although the resulting artworks are as wildly varied as the idea of the book itself, they constitute forms of decolonial praxis in their desire to reclaim or reassign agency in historical narratives; uncover, criticize, or dismantle structures of inequity; or preserve, re-create, and cocreate knowledge. Artists’ remixes and renewals are not derivative or motivated by a simple desire to preserve the past. Some have reclaimed pre-Hispanic techniques to tell new stories, or they have reimagined the book altogether, abandoning its conventional structures and transmuting pre- and postconquest iconographies into murals, sculpture, film, or more conceptual/hybrid works. Contemporary artists have also looked to early colonial books as windows into Indigenous experiences of the conquest, amplifying those perspectives while relating them to recent sociopolitical realities and their hopes for the future. The artists discussed in this essay include Mariana Castillo Deball (Mexico), Sandy Rodriguez (United States), Carlos Colín (Mexico), Estefanía Peñafiel Loaiza (Ecuador), Falco (Ecuador), Andrés Pereira Paz (Bolivia), and Cecilia Vicuña (Chile).

Los artistas latinoamericanos y latinx contemporáneos que trabajan con las historias del libro de la época prehispánica y de los primeros años de la colonia han adaptado los materiales, formatos o iconografías de libros de los siglos XVI y XVII y objetos que sirven de puente para transmitir información de generación en generación. Aunque las obras de arte que son frutos de este trabajo son tan variadas como la misma idea del libro, estas constituyen formas de praxis decolonial por la manera en que reivindican o reasignan la agencia en las narrativas históricas; descubrir, criticar o desmantelar estructuras de inequidad; o preservar, recrear y co-crear el conocimiento. Los remix y renovaciones de los artistas no son meros derivados ni están motivados por un simple deseo de conservar el pasado. Algunos han recuperado técnicas prehispánicas a fin de contar historias nuevas, o han repensado el libro por completo, abandonando sus estructuras convencionales y transmutando iconografías anteriores y posteriores a la conquista en murales, esculturas, películas u obras más conceptuales o híbridas. Otros artistas contemporáneos han visto en los primeros libros coloniales verdaderas manifestaciones de las experiencias indígenas de la conquista, amplificando estas perspectivas al tiempo que las relacionan con la actualidad sociopolítica y esperanzas para el futuro. Los artistas abordados en este ensayo son: Mariana Castillo Deball (México), Sandy Rodríguez (Estados Unidos), Carlos Colín (México), Estefanía Peñafiel Loaiza (Ecuador), Falco (Ecuador), Andrés Pereira Paz (Bolivia) y Cecilia Vicuña (Chile).

Artistas contemporâneos latino-americanos e latinx que engajam histórias de livros pré-hispânicos e do início da colonização adaptam os materiais, formatos ou iconografias de livros e objetos de transferência de conhecimento dos séculos XVI e XVII. Embora as obras de arte resultantes sejam tão variadas quanto a ideia do próprio livro, elas constituem formas de práxis decolonial em seu desejo de reivindicar ou reatribuir a agência nas narrativas históricas; descobrir, criticar ou desmantelar estruturas de iniquidade; ou preservar, recriar e co-criar conhecimento. Remixes e renovações por parte destes artistas não são derivativos ou motivados por um simples desejo de preservar o passado. Alguns recuperaram técnicas pré-hispânicas para contar novas histórias, ou reimaginaram o livro completamente, abandonando suas estruturas convencionais e transmutando iconografias pré e pós-conquista em murais, esculturas, filmes ou obras mais conceituais/híbridas. artistas contemporâneos também olharam para os primeiros livros coloniais como janelas para as experiências indígenas da conquista, ampliando essas perspectivas ao relacioná-los com as realidades sociopolíticas recentes e suas expectativas para o futuro. OS artistas discutidos nesse ensaio incluem Mariana Castillo Deball (México), Sandy Rodriguez (Estados Unidos), Carlos Colín (México), Estefanía Peñafiel Loaiza (Equador), Falco (Equador), Andrés Pereira Paz (Bolívia) e Cecilia Vicuña (Chile).

Looking to Rupert Garcia’s large format print, Untitled for Touchstones, I explore how the impact of colonialism created a dynamic that worked to privilege European ideas of aesthetics over those held by the Mexica in the Americas. Garcia’s piece juxtaposes the Mexica’s Coatlique above the Greek Laocoön and His Sons, each statues is presented in a square with a field of color over them. The print presents the two statues, calling on their histories as art objects, their placement as well as how each statue is reveled and hidden by color in the print. I propose the print touches on issues of knowledge, power and art history, looking to civilizations from Europe and the Americas, and ways in which certain works are considered masterpieces whiles others are relegated to artifacts that become the study of anthropologists.
To examine this dynamic I look to Dolores Galindo and her masters thesis, Latin America’s Epistemic Break: Towards A Decolonial Aesthetics and her view that “decolonial aesthetics looks to decolonize the concepts complicit in art and aesthetics in order to liberate the inherent subjectivities of each culture.”  It is my interest to see how Galindo’s theory of decolonial aesthetics applies to Garcia’s treatment of art works by the Greek and Mexica that have been monumentalized in different ways. Juxtaposing touchstones from these civilizations he exposes ways in which Being as well as Mexica aesthetics have been colonized. I look to Nelson Maldonado-Torres and his theory on the Coloniality of Being in which he states colonialism normalized an existence of “invisibility and dehumanization” that exists to this day .  I see this theory helping to explain ways in which one group can be privileged over another through a process of dehumanization that in many things degrades one group’s cultural expressions. I see this reflected in Garcia’s print title Untitled for Touchstones, in which he names both statues as touchstones and places them as equals to challenge the history of dehumanization.
To further understand power relations in terms of art objects and the connection the works Garcia references has to art history, I look to James Clifford and his examination of ways in which art works are represented in museums in the Art Culture System.  The two workd referenced by Garcia the Coatlicue statue, which was found and excavated in 1790 in Mexico City while under Spanish rule, it was considered so terrifying that it reburied remaining there for more than 30 years before it was unearthed again and moved to the Mexican National Anthropology Museum. Laocoön and His Sons which was unearthed 1506 and moved to the Statues Courtyard at the Vatican Museum by Pope Julius II, where it became the centerpiece of the collection. I aim to show how each piece based on its worth in relation to the Art Culture System has a certain place within an institution that exposes how each cultures art works are valued.  Through this examination of Garcia’s work the connections between the effects colonialism, the residual effects its had on the way pre-colonial art is codified in contemporary art history are exposed and show how it is being reclaimed as touchstones through a decolonial process.

My current body of work, “The Joy of Exile: in three acts” is a continuing stream of exploration of the concept of literal and inner migrations. This is my MFA Thesis Collection created during my tenure at Boston University's College of Fine Arts.

In this body of work,  I use words and images together in the exploration of my inner life. The installation of this work is largely paintings on canvas and paper– presented in such a way that paint extends beyond the boundaries of the canvas on to the wall. The work has lots of literary references; the poetry of Walter Benjamin (and Paul Klee) for example in "Angel of progress." I see the drawings on the wall as a Junot Diaz style fun with footnotes.

In addition, I've been lucky enough to count on the collaboration with a friend, poet Anthony Cody. His poem, "Llegando al Toldería" (after a painting of mine) is the anchor for my installation. The pieces are placed within stanzas of the poem. My installation is an allegorical- poem-comic-mural –– the play within words and images are the key to the experience. The installation is a three-part poem with a prologue (four parts total).

I use the corn kernel as a metaphor for the migrant. Donuts as a metaphor for experience. Debris as travel companions. Popcorn as the culmination of experience of human mobility.  It's a bit challenging to speak about these works individually, I se them as chapters of a single piece, yet pieces in of themselves.

Throughout the process, I've sought to make peace with experiences, to understand some things. I've been lucky enough to do that.

The Los Angeles Times by Matt Stromberg, "Linda Vallejo and a decade of art that unapologetically embraces brownness," June 20, 2019. Excerpt, "He looks better brown, don't you think?" Linda Vallejo asks, pointing at a small sculpture of hamburger chain mascot Bob's Big Boy. His alabaster skin, however, has been painted a rich shade of mocha. The bright blue eyes are now deep brown, the hair a shock of slick black. The work is part of Vallejo's "Make 'Em All Mexican" series, in which the artist takes figures from pop culture, history and religion-Jesus, Gary Cooper, JFK, Mickey Mouse-and alters their appearance, darkening their skin, eyes and hair to flip traditional representations on their heads.

Whereas Mexican art and culture are widely recognized as key elements to the formation and growth of Chicano Art, art historiography written from Mexico has overlooked and sometimes ignored the work of Mexican-descendant artists. In fact, by looking to scholarship and exhibitions produced in Mexico in the past five decades, one could presume that Mexican art history has been reluctant to incorporate Chicano artists and/or works of art comprising Mexican iconographies within its narrative. Drawing from the idea of mirrored images and Freud’s concept on the “narcissism of minor differences,” I aim to analyze why this omission has taken place, as I also attempt to demonstrate a need to rethink Mexican art history through the lenses of Transnationalism and artistic diaspora. Different representations of Revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata—drawing from examples of Diego Rivera’s murals and Speedy Gonzalez to the work of Chicano artists—will serve as sites for discussing the intertwined and complex visual network between Mexico and the U.S., and between Mexican and Chicano art narratives. I will read Zapata’s visual repertoire in the light of processes of consumption and transformation of Mexican imaginaries in the U.S. Historicizing Zapata’s image in American visual culture, therefore, serves as a useful tool to locate and understand the innovation, affirmation, and transformation of identities for Mexican and Mexican-descendant populations in both sides of the border.

“Dialécticas del espejo: Zapata, una imagen transnacional”. En Continuo/discontinuo. Los dilemas de la historia del arte en América Latina. Memoria del XXXV Coloquio Internacional de Historia del Arte, ed. Verónica Díaz (México: Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas-UNAM, 2017), 269–84.

Linda Vallejo has spent much of the past decade investigating the deeply personal subject of what it means to be a brown-skinned American. With daily media coverage of current controversies over the citizenship question on the 2020 Census, Latin American migrant children living in inhumane concentration camps, and the tenuousness of the future of DACA, Vallejo's research project couldn't be any timelier. Her findings, which are presented in the form of more than 125 paintings, drawings, and sculptures, should elicit more questions than answers, which is exactly the artist's stated intention. By David S. Rubin

"Brown Belongings" Review, New York Times, by Jill Cowan, Nov. 26, 2019. Recently, my colleague Jose Del Real wrote about the role of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, the Mexican-American community center and museum in downtown Los Angeles, in educating visitors about many of the lesser known-and darker-narratives from the city's history.