Beemer, Bri Week 8 (Ruby Chacon presentation)

 I am writing about the presentation that Lilibeth Chavez did on Ruby Chacon. I found the discussion about art in Utah and the concept of "Utana" to be very interesting. Chacon wanted to challenge the widespread notion that all of the art produced by Utah residents is only of vast desert landscapes. However, she still incorporates landscapes into some of her art, but she uses the desert canyons as a background rather than the core focus. I do not remember the names of the three art pieces, but two were portraits of her family members while the other mural is of Chicane people from all walks of life with a desert landscape in the background. As an aside, the reason why I say Chicane instead of Chicanx is because I read about how Chicanx is a very Americanized term because it would be clunky to say “chican-equis” in Spanish. Chicane succeeds in being both gender neutral and non-anglicized.

I really like that Chacon creates a lot of her art to be in publicly accessible. In most of the art spaces I have been in, there is a palpable air of elitism and pretentiousness so I like her “art for the people” philosophy. I think that murals and elaborate chalk drawings should be analyzed and studied at the same level as pieces in museums and galleries.

My favorite piece of Chacon’s was the one with the landscape in the background. It contains an iteration of the Virgen de Guadolupe theme that is found in much of Chicane art. She is the primary female figure in the mural which brings up interesting questions of how women are conceptualized and portrayed in Chicane art. The colors and vibrancy of the painting reflect the variety and diversity of Chicane communities. Overall, I really enjoyed the presentation about Chacon’s art.