Curator's Statement
What makes an artist Chicana? What makes a work of art Chicana? Simple, but not satisfactory, answers would rely only on the ethnicity of the artist. The inquiries would begin and end with the question: Is the artist a Mexican American woman?
In fact, Chicana art is a far more complex cultural phenomenon. Its roots are in a broader movement of Chicano/a art that emerged in the 1960s civil rights and labor struggles. That movement emphasized the artists’ identification with a rich, complex fusion of indigenous, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo culture. Assertively political, it was fueled by a fervent desire to advance the rights of Mexican Americans and to preserve and promote their unique contributions to American culture.
Only more recently has Chicana art been recognized as a distinct genre. It combines the overarching concerns of Mexican Americans with a special focus on the experience of women. The combination has profound implications for Chicana artists’ subject matter and style.
As to subject matter, Chicana art is essentially feminist in the most generous sense of the word. That feminism can surface in stinging critique, such as Yolanda López’s "Women’s Work Is Never Done," or in homage to a hero, like Barbara Carrasco’s "Dolores." It sparks a gentler, but incisive, social commentary about Chicana workers in Laura Álvarez’s "Sirvienta" series. For Irene Simmons, it means solidarity, work and organizing on the tragic murders of more than 400 women in and around Ciudad Juárez—an issue of paramount concern to women on both sides of the border. Her work here is a delicate collage prototype for a poster publicizing an initiative called "ReDressing Injustice," in which participants make and display dresses symbolizing the victims. In more subtle ways, feminism also animates an interest in family and community. Cecilia Concepción Alvarez’s "Las Cuatas Diego" is a portrait of her grandmother with her twin sister. Yreina Cervántez takes on the complexity of women’s roles in a cross-cultural context. Carmen Lomas Garza’s "Tito’s Gig on the Moon" imagines Tito Puente’s legendary orchestra performing for a community dance. Kathy Vargas’ evocative photographs are about family and memory; they capture the collision of the innocence of youth with an adult world already defined by gender and ethnic stereotypes.
As to style and presentation, Chicana art emphasizes traditional modes of public art: murals, agitprop posters and prints and other modes of mass communication, including inexpensive publications and websites. These public methods are chosen with the aim of reaching a wider audience than typical fine arts galleries and underscore the populist roots of Chicana art. Along with two posters, Juana Alicia is represented by a reproduction of her mural for a UE union local in Erie, Pa. She is influenced by the acclaimed early Mexican muralists. Delilah Montoya’s series of panoramic photographs of the U.S.-Mexican border echo the muralist’s sense of scale. Her "Trail of Thirst" pictures bring a special sensitivity to the landscape and the human costs of demagoguery on the issue of illegal border crossings. Ester Hernández contributes perhaps the most familiar image here, "Sun Mad," which transforms the ubiquitous raisin box into a protest of migrant workers’ exposure to toxic chemicals. Her companion piece, "Sun Raid," is a newly updated version commenting on inequitable immigration enforcement against workers. Laura Molina, a painter at heart, also experiments with a wide a variety of public media, including provocative websites and comic books. Her print "Cihualyaomiquiz, The Jaguar" is a reproduction of the cover of a comic book that features her fictional alter ego—a Chicana superhero who battles racists and reactionaries. Favianna Rodriguez has produced an impressive array of political posters, often in connection with specific organizing campaigns. She freely appropriates motifs from vintage posters and magazine covers and assimilates those sources into a style all her own. Similarly, Tina Hernández recycles an iconic image: She remakes the World War II-era Rosie the Riveter into an athletic Chicana worker, who proclaims ¡Ya Basta!--Enough!
The title of the show comes from Juana Alicia’s poster "Mujeres con Garbo/Women with Attitude." The Spanish word "garbo" is more nuanced than the English word "attitude." Garbo combines assertiveness with grace, elegance and agility—a perfect way to sum up the works on display.
Rex Weil
This exhibition was organized by Rex Weil, an artist, writer and educator living and working in Washington, D.C. He teaches art theory at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also has directed the MFA colloquium. He has taught in American University's MFA in Italy program, the MFA program at George Mason University and at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. Weil has been a visiting artist/critic at the MFA programs of Tyler School for the Arts and Virginia Commonwealth University; in spring 2004, he led a Corcoran College seminar on contemporary art theory in Las Vegas. Weil also is a contributing editor for ARTnews; he has published more than 200 essays and reviews about contemporary art for ARTnews, the Wall Street Journal, the New Art Examiner and Washington City Paper, among other publications. He has received several D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities fellowships for his painting and sculpture and D.C. Commission grants for his art workshops for adults with developmental disabilities. He was a founding member of the White House award-winning Corcoran Artists Mentorship Program and later developed an innovative art and writing curriculum for at-risk high school students. Weil has a B.A. from Northwestern University, a J.D. from the University of Cincinnati and has completed additional studies at Georgetown University, the Corcoran College of Art and Design and the Escuela Libre De Derecho, Mexico, D.F.
Sources:
Griswold del Castillo, Richard, et al. editors, CARA: Chicano Art—Resistance and Affirmation 1965-1985 (University of California Wight Art Gallery, 1991)
Keller, Gary D., et al., Triumph of Our Communities: Four Decades of Mexican American Art (Bilingual Press, 2005)
Ochoa, María, Creative Collectives: Chicana Painters Working in the Community (University of New Mexico Press, 2003)
Pérez, Laura E., Chicana Art: The Politics of Spiritual and Aesthetic Altarities (Duke University Press, 2007)
