Carmen Lomas Garza

Carmen Lomas Garza’s style alone sets her apart. Her versatility in the types of medias she uses is crazy. I am very into color and have to say I love the vividness of her works that are in color. What I also find so intriguing about Carmen Lomas Garza is her ability to display Mexican and Chicano culture while including symbolism and deeper meanings within her work. Every detail seems to be calculated and thought of. Her progression of artistic talent is interesting to view. How she can re-imagine her childhood memories but also create the history water in California. One of her simpler works that recalls a childhood memory of Garza while also showing a deeper symbolic meaning is the close-up version of an earlier work, Earache Treatment. The original work includes a porch setting at night where her mother funnels a burning newspaper into her father’s ear to help evaporate water from his ear. This image can be taken as a cultural memory focused on the bigger picture of something her mom would do for her father when she was younger. The close-up zooms in to give more of a portrait of her father that focuses on the subject. A rolled-up Spanish newspaper on fire is shown funneled into his ear. This image represents a funneling of knowledge. Based on this image it can be cultural knowledge. To me it could also represent the way culture and knowledge of culture can feed spirituality represented by the flames. The funneling of the knowledge and spirituality to the ear represents a sort of communication where the father receives the spirituality and knowledge.