Chang, Nicholas (Week 10)

 

One concept that I was unaware of before taking this Chicana art course was the concept of rasquachismo. I never noticed this idea of perceiving the world from an underdog’s point of view when previously looking at Chicano art. Rasquachismo is the idea that art can be made from anything and Chicana artists will typically use any household items they can find to create an art piece that shows the resilience and beauty in ordinary living. I believe that the concept of rasquachismo coupled with the idea of political activism through art really adds to the messaging of Chicano art. 

The concept of rasquachismo also helped me further understand artists such as Yolanda Lopez, who used her art to highlight ordinary people within the community and their significance to the people around them. I have not previously seen Yolanda Lopez’s artwork before taking this class, but I found her art to be very interesting and inspiring. As I previously mentioned, Lopez’s subversion of the Lady of Guadalupe to include women partaking in their daily lives was an art piece that really resonated with me and helped me understand the concept of rasquachismo. I found it very interesting how Lopez used a very popular religious image and shifted the deification towards ordinary Chicana women that she knew. I really enjoyed Yolanda Lopez’s political activist art pieces such as “Who’s the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?” and “Your Vote Has Power”. In the first image, Yolanda spins the racist phrase “Go back to your country” and shows the original inhabitants of the continent. Learning about the context of this piece made it more powerful, as I learned that it was in response to a proposed fence along the Southern border. I also enjoyed “Your Vote Has Power” because it shows a population that was being threatened by the Californian governor that was trying to restrict healthcare access from illegal immigrants. To scare the governor, Lopez used an image of a Chicana woman voting with her child that showed they would not stand for this injustice. 

Overall, this course has taught me a lot of the history, techniques, and messages behind Chicana art. I have learned about concepts that helped further my understanding of Chicana art as well as discover new artists such as Yolanda Lopez.

Chang, Nicholas (Week 9)

 I really liked Sasha Rodriguez’s presentation on the muralist Kristy Sandoval. Prior to this presentation, I did not realize that Los Angeles had put a mural ban in place in 2008. The image that stood out to me was Sandoval’s first mural after the ban was lifted in 2013, titled Decolonize. Decolonize shows an image of a woman in a dress opening a cage and letting out parrots and butterflies into the wild. According to Sasha, the inclusion of these particular animals were meant to represent migration and being able to move freely. I think these animals being freed from a cage is a very powerful message of female liberation and feminism. The woman in the mural also has a tattoo of an Aztec moon goddess which pays homage to Aztec heritage.  One aspect of the style in the art piece that I found very interesting was how Sandoval was able to use aspects of the building itself as part of the mural. For example, the cage that the woman is opening is a caged window. Additionally, the parasol acts as the dress that the woman wears in the mural. This style of mural painting is something I personally have never seen before and I really admire that aspect. 

I believe that Sandoval’s mission of promoting feminism is very admirable and I really like how she is able to use her art to show solidarity with other women. In another mural, Sandoval includes an image of Assata Shakur who was a black revolutionary figure and this demonstrates that she was not concerned with dividing people by skin color but rather she wanted to promote solidarity by focusing on common humanity. I found that the intentional spelling of women as “womyn” was very interesting. According to Sasha, this was meant to show that women do not need to gain their identity in relation to men. 

Overall, I think this presentation was very informative and encapsulated Kristy Sandoval’s art and life very well.

Chang, Nicholas (Week 8)

 When looking at all the presentations from our class last week, I believe that Armando’s presentation on Brenda Barrios was the most interesting to me. It was very interesting to hear about a fellow Bruin and their work as an artist and I am very happy to see Armando choose someone from our student community to highlight their work. 

I personally believed that Barrios’ topics and themes that were heavily involved with activism and drawing attention to important issues was a very admirable trait of her artwork. The activism aspect of Chicana art is heavily prevalent in pieces such as “Medicare for All” and “Vaccines for the Community”.  In the piece “Medicare for All”, we can see a Chicana lady that is meant to resemble Barrios’ mother with a broom surrounded by colorful leaves. The art piece showcases a population that desperately needs access to good health care and demonstrates that activist side of art and how art can potentially change minds with a single powerful image. Especially since the Latino community has very little access to healthcare, this message is important to draw attention to a demographic that has been hit especially hard from the pandemic. Being a little biased because of my political leanings, this piece was particularly powerful as I believe that we need to do more as a country to provide good healthcare to those that have been disproportionately affected by a lack of healthcare for so long. 

Through Armando’s presentation, I also learned about how the colors that Brenda chose were purposeful as they represented the colors she had seen in Mexico. Looking at Brenda Barrios’ art, I could see the comparisons between Brenda’s digital art to the papel picado we have seen used by artists throughout this course. 

In conclusion, I believe that Armando’s presentation was very informative and perfectly encapsulated Brenda Barrios’ style as well as her inspiration behind her pieces.

Chang, Nicholas (Week 7)

 

In the essay, “Chicanx Graphics In the Digital Age” by Claudia Zapata, the author explains how Chicanx political graphics have gradually moved into digital spaces and the adoption of digital tools to create art. Zapata explains how Chicanx art and political engagement are heavily intertwined with artists such as Barbara Carrasco using her art to show support for the boycotts organized by the United Farm Workers. With the internet becoming a popular medium, Chicanx artists began experimenting with the internet to create their art. Artists like Jacalyn Lopez Garcia used their art to transform the internet from a cold and purely informational space into an intimate one. The creation of the email and social media networks allowed Chicana artists to share their images and foster a community online. I think Zapata’s essay was a very interesting timeline of how Chicanx art was able to grow and adapt to new technology that continually connects artists to audiences. It was really interesting to see how politics and activism remain a very integral part of Chicanx art and how that plays out in each technological medium. Whether artists were bringing attention to the treatment of undocumented immigrants or showing solidarity for the black community, art has remained a powerful medium for Chicanx people to use their voice and enact social change through images. The themes of identity as well as sexuality are also heavily prevalent in Chicanx art throughout history. Technology has allowed Chicanx artists to showcase their ideas on identity and sexuality to new audiences and to get their art shown in spaces that act as alternatives to traditional places to view art. New technology such as augmented reality and virtual reality are giving artists new tools to critique new positions of power such as Big Tech corporations. I think Zapata’s essay showcases the revolutionary aspect of Chicanx art and the adaptability of this art community.

Chang, Nicholas (Week 6)

 

Xandra Ibarra, is a Chicana artist that is nicknamed La Chica Boom, who has made visual art in multiple mediums including performance art, photography, and sculpture that usually touches on racial, gendered, and queer topics. In her performance art “Car Without Parts”, Xandra pushes a car with a golden sheet over her. The art piece is meant to represent how Black and Latino men typically have some sort of affection towards their vehicles. With the female body attached to the car, Xandra is displaying this affection by exposing her body out from the golden sheet of fabric and showing what is sexually desired by these same men. The portion of her body that is exposed is also very intentional as it reveals the bottom half of her body that is typically sexualized and desired by those that are attracted to women in society. When looking at the positioning of Xandra in relation to the car, her body is protruding from the bumper of the car, that is traditionally related to the female bottom.The golden sheet of fabric could also represent this innate desire and the alluring effects it has on society. Just as society desires nice cars with nice paint jobs, society also desires beautiful women which is symbolized by her being attached to the vehicle. While the color of gold is symbolic of desire and wealth, with the car almost always obscured by the golden sheet, the audience does not know what is really under the sheet. This is meant to symbolize the philosophical concept of Body without Organs which is meant to represent a structure without an internal composition. One question I have for Xandra is what initially inspired her and how has that inspiration translated into performance art.

Chang, Nicholas (Week 5)

 

    Tito’s Gig on the Moon (p.96) is a painting created by Lomas Garza that is an ode to the New York Latin jazz musician Tito Puente who was hoping to “stay alive in the year 2000 and have the first Latin orchestra to play on the moon”. While Tito sadly passed away in 2000, Garza wanted to create an image that would make his wish come true. In the image, Puente is on the moon overlooking the Earth and is playing music for a lively party. The musicians are dressed in all white clothes and play white instruments that emanate musical energy. The music that travels from the Latin orchestra’s instruments seem to mimic the patterns on the dancers’ clothes. On the dance floor, children, elderly people, and couples dance around the moon joyously. In the background, astral windows show golden images of birds, pelicans, parrots, turkeys, swans, and eagles. The golden astral windows are meant to be a representation of the Birdland jazz club, a place that Tito and his band frequently played at that was located in New York.  The all white clothing for Tito’s orchestra seems to be a representation of an orchestra that has passed away. Especially because it was made after Tito’s passing, the white clothing could be a representation of a heavenly visit from those who have previously passed. Furthermore, when we consider the composition of the moon in relation to Earth, the moon could be a representation of a meeting place between the land of the living and heaven, with the musicians coming and entertaining the living, who are adorned with colorful clothes. To strengthen this interpretation, while there are windows with birds across the background, there is a gap in between the windows that almost acts as an entrance from the Earth for the living. The planet in the background is also turned in such a way that it shows the North American continent facing the club on the moon.

Wiki Draft Nicholas Chang

 Pat Gomez (artist)

Patricia “Pat” Gomez (born 1960) is a Chicana visual artist based in Los Angeles best known for incorporating text within her art. She is currently the Civic Art Project Manager at Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture. 

Biography

Pat Gomez has previously studied and earned both her Master and Bachelor degrees in visual art from California State University at Fullerton. Gomez has previously worked with the Chicano art collective called Self Help Graphics. 

Art

In 1991, Gomez created her first piece for Self Help Graphics titled War Stories. In the art piece, Gomez wrote personal accounts of her uncle and her cousin’s respective experiences in the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. War Stories was specifically created in response to the First Gulf War and was Gomez’s attempts at “tearing off the fabric of a million people’s stories”. 

Within the text, Gomez explains how her uncle could not pursue college or a white collar career because of social and economic reasons and he eventually joined his local gang. Upon being caught and tried for a crime, Gomez’s uncle was given a choice of either being imprisoned or joining the war effort in Vietnam. Six months after enlisting in the army, her uncle was killed in action. The second story inscribed in War Stories is a story about Gomez’s cousin who grew up in a similar environment as her uncle and how he aspired to be the first one in his family to go to college and the only way he could financially accomplish this was through enlisting in the army. 

The Trappings of Sor Juana 

Created as part of an art gallery about Sor Juana in 1999, Pat Gomez sought to evoke a similar message to the story of the nun’s life. Sor Juana was a writer in colonial Mexico that was eventually silenced and unable to publish her work because she criticized the church and the political establishment. Included in this piece is text from an excerpt from Sor Juana’s Disillusionment. 

Stay Tuned

Pat Gomez created the 1992 art piece Stay Tuned as a response to her experience in the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In her art piece, Gomez displays rows of televisions providing a glimpse into the destruction she witnessed during the riots. On the right side of the art piece, a personal account of the riots are written from Pat Gomez’s perspective from that time. 

Exhibitions

Her work has been included in private and public collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 

References

1. “Pat Gomez on ‘War Stories’ & ‘The Trappings of Sor Juana.’” YouTube, uploaded by SoCalStudio, 16 May 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JetLHeKguiM.

2.  “Patricia Gomez.” Blanton Museum of Art - Patricia Gómez (Aka Pat Gómez), https://collection.bma.utexas.edu/artist-maker/info/10264. 

3. Gomez, Pat. “Stay Tuned.” Center for the Study of Political Graphics, http://collection-politicalgraphics.org/detail.php?module=objects&type=browse&id=2&term=Self%2BHelp%2BGraphics%2Band%2BArt&kv=3365&record=2&page=1. 

4. “Speaker Bios.” Americans for the Arts, 15 May 2019, https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/services-and-training/training-professional-development/webinars/digital-classrooms/public-art-and-placemaking-digital-classroom/speaker-bios

5. Gómez, Pat. “The Trappings of Sor Juana.” Calisphere, UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections, 1 Jan. 1999, https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/hb8199p23g/. 

 

 

Chang, Nicholas (Week 4)

 Rasquachismo is defined as a perspective from the bottom or as an underdog in a world that gives no assistance. In an art context, Rasquachismo can be seen repurposing items from being “useless” to “useful”. There is an inventive spirit within rasquachismo art that shows Chicanos can make something beautiful with everyday items. Rasquachismo art typically recycles tires, bottles, and string in order to showcase the underdog perspective of the Chicana community. The art form also includes a sense of resistance towards traditional ideas of beauty in visual art. When thinking about Eurocentric art, it typically involves a sense of grandeur and wealth, this view is subverted in Rasquachismo art, and the world is shown to be beautiful through a working class view. 

The concept of rasquachismo can be partially seen in the art of Yolanda Lopez, who used the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in order to glorify the working class women in the Chicano community. Mixing a religious image of veneration to include working class women sewing and doing daily activities shows how rasquachismo shows the world from an underdog lens. Glorifying the working class aspect of the Chicano experience and using everyday objects to create pieces of art meant to show a difference from traditional Eurocentric art pieces. 

Domesticana is a word that shows the resistance and growth of Chicana artists making their own art form apart from a male dominated space.  Rasquachismo is typically seen from a male Chicano perspective, while Domesticana is much more female-oriented. While Rasquachismo is meant to have a sense of resistance towards Eurocentrism in art, Domesticana is meant to show a further resistance towards a patriarchal world and art form. Going back to Yolanda’s art pieces, we can see a liberation in traditionally feminine spaces like the sewing room or in strong female figures such as the abuelita. Domesticana is meant to celebrate women and their contributions to society apart from their relationships to men.  

Chang, Nicholas Abstracts

 Gomez, Pat. “Stay Tuned.” Center for the Study of Political Graphics, http://collection-politicalgraphics.org/detail.php?module=objects&type=browse&id=2&term=Self%2BHelp%2BGraphics%2Band%2BArt&kv=3365&record=2&page=1.

In this article, Pat Gomez explains how she made her piece titled “Stay Tuned” in 1992. Gomez provides a personal account of witnessing a riot in the Rampart district of Los Angeles and seeing the destruction at hand. While at her job, Gomez was forced to evacuate her downtown studio alone and saw smoke, helicopters, sirens, and guns going off around her. Gomez recounts wanting to leave the city for a few days out of fear of her safety. Upon returning, she sees the National Guard in Los Angeles and a television saying “Rebuild L.A.”. An important aspect of her piece of art are the television sets that showed looters where to go and displayed the violence at hand. Her written account of her experience during a riot is displayed within the piece of art being shown scrawled on a row of televisions. This piece of art is notably categorized as a piece that is meant to showcase police brutality in Los Angeles.

“Speaker Bios.” Americans for the Arts, 15 May 2019, https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/services-and-training/training-professional-development/webinars/digital-classrooms/public-art-and-placemaking-digital-classroom/speaker-bios.

This article written by the Americans For the Arts provides a biography on Pat Gomez and her career in the art world. At the time of writing this article, Pat Gomez was a Creative Services Manager for Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Gomez has previously worked as a manager for the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. According to the article, Pat Gomez has also worked as a presenter and collection researcher, previously being featured by the American Society of Appraisers national conference in 2007. Pat Gomez also has experience working as the Associate Director for Self-Help Graphics & Art.  The Self-Help Graphics & Art collective is meant to bring together Chicano artists to create visual art for the community.

   Gómez, Pat. “The Trappings of Sor Juana.” Calisphere, UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections, 1 Jan. 1999, https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/hb8199p23g/.

This article describes a work by Pat Gomez titled,"The Trappings of Sor Juana". Describing her own work, Pat Gomez describes the vase containing pink flowers with an image of a brain in a thorny cage. The vase contains an image of the Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and rosaries hang from the top of the image. Included in the art piece is an excerpt from Sor Juana's Disillusionment in the lower righthand corner. Created in 1999, the image is held by UC Santa Barbara's Department of Special Research Collections.

Chang, Nicholas (Week 3)

 My first experience of the Lady of Guadalupe was when I heard about the story behind the image. Growing up  in a Catholic household, my grandmother has told me a plethora of stories regarding holy figures in the Catholic faith, including the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe. I remember my grandmother telling me how on the North American continent, a recent convert with a very sick uncle saw the image of the Virgin Mary that appears from the sun, who instructed him to build a church near modern-day Mexico City. When the man tried to convince a bishop to build this church, he was unsuccessful in doing so. It was only when the convert brought a cloak with flowers that formed an image of the Lady of Guadalupe that the bishop believed the convert’s experiences which culminated in a chapel being built at the site. The Lady of Guadalupe also healed the convert’s sickly uncle when he was on his deathbed. I remember hearing this story as a child and being very surprised to learn about how Christianity had stories of miracles and holy figures that are set in North America. 

As a Californian, I have seen many renditions of the picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe on cars, buildings, Spanish classes, and in images online. The Virgin of Guadalupe is a very iconic image that I have seen in many places, but I have seen this image the most around Southern California and Los Angeles. From my experiences, the image of the Lady of Guadalupe depicts the Virgin Mary with beams of light like how the convert in the story observes an apparition of Mary from the sun. Especially since I heard the story about how the Lady of Guadalupe healed the convert’s sickly uncle, I mostly saw the image as a representation of healing through faith. 

Arismendi, Connie

 2. Pat Gomez

3. Anita Valencia

Chang, Nicholas

Hello everyone! My name is Nicholas Chang and I am a first year Transfer student at UCLA. I am a Political Science major and I am considering minoring in Entrepreneurship.  I am originally from the Bay Area and I went to De Anza College prior to transferring to UCLA. My preferred pronouns are he/him and I would prefer to be referred to as Nicholas. 

Since my first quarter at UCLA is heavily based around my upper-division Political Science courses, I thought about taking an art course to broaden my knowledge around a subject I am unfamiliar with and to be exposed to interesting and intriguing art pieces. I signed up for this particular course because I never had the chance to explore Chicanx/Latinx art and I wanted to be exposed to new artists and art styles through this class. While I have taken a few Art History courses at my community college, those classes never delved into the Chicanx/Latinx community and mainly focused on European art history. As a Political Science major, I am very interested in American history and I am excited to see how Chicanx history intertwines with the Chicanx art movement. I have always been interested in many forms of art from a young age when I went to art museums with my family. While I am not an artist myself, I have a lot of appreciation for the work that was put into creating pieces of art. The main form of Chicanx art that I have previously seen are the long murals in Los Angeles. Being from a community where Chicanx art was less common, I think this class will be very enlightening in teaching me more about the art movement, the artists behind the pieces of art, and the techniques employed in their process.