Celia Alvarez Muñoz - Roberto Tejada

In Roberto Tejada’s Celia Alvarez Muñoz (A Ver) book, we are able to see the various art pieces by Celia Alvarez Muñoz. From the section titled “Geography,” there are several art pieces that reflect twentieth-century geometric abstraction as well as conceptual and earthwork practices. On page ten, we see a photograph of a mixed media installation from the Dallas Museum of Art made in 1991. Alvarez Muñoz created an octagonal wooden structure that was made of timbers that suggested the ties of railroad construction. There are vertical beams that are attached by metal joints to form this large structure that is halfway over a rectangular pool which is in the courtyard of the Dallas Museum of Art. Two of the beams are in the water and because of this, we are able to see a reflection in the water. To finish it off there are neon beams forming an ‘X’ in the center of the sculpture. This sculpture was influenced by the Mogollon structures and served to represent the collusions between the industrial façade as well as the colonizing enterprise of U.S. cultural expansion. I thought it was interesting to see this structure that was created around the preexisting sculpture of Ellsworth Kelly from 1984 and around the Dallas skyline. In the photograph taken it seems to have a sunset theme and the colors appear very vivid and stand out because of the contrasts.

Alvarez Muñoz seems to always relate her artwork to Mexican and Mexican American experience and we see this through this particular work. This section of Abriendo Tierra represents storylines that pertain to oral histories and contemporary practices while also leaving an open translation for her audience to interpret the image on their own which seemed to be the main purpose of  Alvarez Muñoz’s work in general.