Week 8: Chicano Art: Looking Backward

In “Chicano Art: Looking Backward”, Shifra M. Goldman explains that Chicano art has often been neglected in the mainstream art world and it’s presence is finally being made evident in the establishment of art in periodicals, galleries, museums, private collections, and by critics. Despite now being recognized in the mainstream art world, Chicano art continues to be silenced as a different type of art in American society. The Chicano art movement is entering a new shift where Chicano artists are left to answer if they should continue making art focused on community service and social change at the sake of financial stability and recognition. Goldman even acknowledged that the dilemma in Califas, a group show organized by Eduardo Carrillo, was that it didn’t display works that demonstrate the change and progression of the Chicano art movement or the artists themselves. Califas presented the works of fifteen esteemed Mexican-American artists who have had their works exhibited for over a decade or more. The Murals of Aztlan show included some of the most acclaimed and talented artists in Los Angeles painting murals on portable canvases where the viewers can look and speak with the artists. The entire show was meant to reflect the intricate process these artists undergo when painting murals on the different walls throughout Los Angeles. The author argues that there are many issues with the exhibit. One being that murals being painted on portable canvases rejects the meaning of murals, which are artworks meant for a specific wall. Additionally, the canvases are on sale and will probably go to an art collector or corporation who could afford it. This violated the notion that Chicano murals should be accessible to the public and not privately owned so that people in barrio communities can see. The reading emphasizes that there must be a dialogue where muralists are made aware of the impact their work can have in different communities. 

Murals by Judithe Hernández, East Los Streetscapers, and Carlos Almaraz, 1981.