Wk. 4: ¡Printing the Revolution! Exhibition Preview

 

¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now is an exhibition that came together with years of tireless work by E. Carmen Ramos and Claudia Zapata to go across the nation finding influential artists to piece together a social activist story from the 1960's to today through art. The artists in this exhibition not only display their talent in the artistic field but their diverse experience in American society to provide awareness and garner understanding from the community. 

The most prominent of artists were the printmakers of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, they produced work depicting the consciousness of the Chicano. The work of these printmakers began the socio-political graphic arts movement. While silk screen printing was a dominant medium used by Chicanx artists, many also used lithography, installation, interactive art, public displays, and digital art over the decades to exhibit the variety of social issues communities were combatting. 

The earliest printmaking works of this revolution tackled issues of the United Farm Workers. Several significant printmakers included Rupert Garcia who created pieces advocating for ethnic studies in the educational curriculum and Yolanda Lopez who used her work to combat police abuse and support immigration reform. One moving and unfortunately growing installation piece done by Oree Originol, presents portraits of people killed during interactions with law enforcement and is available online for people to use during protests. The Royal Chicano Air Force is a collective of artists that was born during the movement and is featured in the exhibition with their work that served to reclaim the Mexican identity of it's people through Mesoamerican depictions. Other issues these artists challenged was the American experience through the eyes of black, indigenous and people of color, the Cuban Revolution, the Vietnam War, global dictatorships, U.S. intervention colonialism, and racial oppression. One of the components of the exhibitions that I found most surprising was the inclusion of non-Chicanx artists, it featured Sicilian-American artist Josh Sanchez, Chilean born artist Rene Castro, Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA collective of Dominican-American artists, Asian-American artist Nancy Hom, and Puerto Rican artist Poli Marichal. 

While this exhibition was only able to be seen virtually for the time being, that in no way undermined the power and message behind these incredible works of art. I enjoyed seeing the variety of mediums these artists employed to show their creative abilities. The Chicano Civil Rights Movement occurred in the 1960's, a very recent time meaning that the work put into producing this exhibition to catalog the pieces created by these artists is even far more important since it has the advantages of hearing testimonials from the artists at the center of the movement. What makes this exhibition of Chicanx art legacy different from those that display Abstractionism or Pop Art is that it validates the suffering others have had to endure for change to happen. The experiences of the underprivileged were voiced through these pieces and that emotion cannot be replicated.