What I learned - Final Post

First off, I was pleasantly surprised with how much we actually got to create images in this course. I have taken a number of art classes before, but this one has by far been one of the best ones I've been a part of. Not only did we get to learn about the context in which artist creates but we also received a better understanding of what defines or doesn't define a Chicana Artist. I would assert that I learned more in depth about the complexities of identity and how they are tied to art and politics. It is a realm that I was previously unaware of and hoped to learn more about. Going in not being able to identify a single Chicana artist, to ten weeks later being extremely interested in the works of legends like Carmen Lomas Garza, as well as future works by our own class mates like Kaelyn Rodriguez, is the biggest development that I can walk away with. This class has opened up my eyes to the variety of social identities, political ideologies, and technical forms of expression that women of color express through their artistic lenses. I walk away with not only a palpable knowledge of what has historically constituted Chicana Art, but also a growing interest in the future development and contribution into the field.

Dear Carmen Lomas Garza,

I absolutely love your art work. Your paintings have encompassed the background of my childhood even before I was aware of you as a person. As I've gotten older I go back to your paintings with an ever changing mindset and framework for interpreting your work. I find that your paintings are often colorful compositions that are fraught with the complexities of oppression, class, race, and gender norms. I feel excited yet depressed every time I look upon your work. This is the greatest compliment I can give an artist, and I really don't know what question(s) to pose to you. I truly would love to just hear you speak about your inspiration for each piece and why you choose to paint every specific element in your pieces. I want to know why your color palette is so bright and varied? I want to know what possess you to paint? I would love to know about your unfinished pieces and how you know when a piece is completed?

These are the queries that come to mind when I look at your work. It inspires such a heavy wonderment that sometimes I am unsure as to what exactly I am questioning in your art. I hope you can expand my perspective and appreciation of work.

With much appreciation and love,

Vladimir De Jesus Santos

Week 4 : Artist Presentation

The artist that I was most struck by in this weeks presentations was no doubt Margarita Cabreara. Our classmate Kaelyn Rodriguez, did an amazing job curating the artist work, specifically with the use of vinyl as a means of subverting meaning and material. The piece I admired the most was that of the cactus plant in her "Desert Plants" series. Her appropriation of border patrol uniforms to create the plants in question is absolutely mind-blowing. The border patrol agents themselves serve to "protect" the vast majority of deserts where such mentioned plants blossom. In many ways piece is a critique about the arbitrary nature of nationalism and how we as humans wear specific clothing to separate ourselves from other humans and human (and plant) nature itself.

Week 3 : Stencil

The stencil I chose is a design I made myself that incorporates my name "Vlad" and our university "UCLA." I inverted the text and attempted to make the text look as if it were written in Korean, to represent the neighborhood that I hail from: Koreatown. It's a simple approach but one that I felt adequately represents where I'm from and where I currently am at as a person in my life.

La Virgencita

I grew up with "La Virgencita" in the background of my childhood. She was posted in peoples living rooms, painted on the walls of local liquor stores, panaderias, and cell phone shops as well as tattooed on people's limbs. I never really knew what she was about since she wasn't present in my Salvadorian household. She was an object of admiration for all of my Mexican friends and I was, and still am continuously fascinated by her image. Just as an art piece her image is extremely arresting, the religious aspect comes second to me, but is just as fascinating. I see her image as tool that the Spanish Catholic crown used to incorporate elements of the Aztec mother earth figure of Tonantzin, mixed with elements of the Virgin Mary herself. It's a powerful piece of religious indoctrination done through art! I've seen it be appropriated as a powerful Chicana feminist symbol and I think it's amazing that art can have that transformative sense for a person and their culture.

(Image courtesy of Shizu Saldamando's Tumblr http://saldamando.tumblr.com/)

Artist for Presentation: Shizu Saldamando

The Chicana Artist I will present on is Shizu Saldamando. She is an amazing illustrator of photorealistic capabilities.

Santos, Vladimir De Jesus

Hello my name is Vladimir De Jesus Santos and I am a Chican@ Studies/History double major/ Film minor. I am primarily a Filmmaker, although I have been also been an active Illustrator and Musician for the past decade, apart from being a scholar. I've been actively creating all sorts of absurdities since a young age. One of my recent satirical endeavors is my YouTube channel, ImportedTV where we provide social commentary on the experience of 1st generation Latin Americans with immigrant parents. I would also consider myself a serious filmmaker as I'm currently documenting first person accounts of the Civil War in El Salvador that took place from the mid 1970's to the late 1980's. I've completed the first piece in this series, titled Aqui Estoy, and I am looking to my education here at UCLA to further my path as a Latino documentary filmmaker.

In the essay, "Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whore's Mask: The Mirror of Malinchisimo", Gaspar de Alba discusses the importance of acknowledging gender as it relates to class and race in progressive social causes, such as feminism. This is especially complicated when we consider the Third World Feminism that arose out of the critique of "White Feminism" and how many Chicana's chose art to express their issues not only with male privilege in art spaces but also amongst women themselves that hail from various races and classes. The question that came to mind after reading this piece is; how do ethnic and sexual identities change the prevailing oppressive patriarchal system that we live in, especially within spaces of artistic expression? If "Chicana lesbian feminist, whose theoretical writings have most impacted the field of Chicana/o Studies, exhort us to push the gender question further", does that mean that the art that comes from this perspective is the most effective way to challenge the existing gender, class, sexuality, and race norms?