(Mara Higuera) Week 8

 The artist that caught my eye the most in Tuesday’s presentations was Melquiades Dominguez (also known as Melo), which was presented by Harlow. This artist caught my eye because I was really interested in the fact that she connected past art to modern art. The art pieces that were presented were Procession Piece (2020), Dancers Mural (2013), and Nuestras Raices (2017).

All pieces brought to light some aspect of the Chicano community, including legal status, traditions, and inclusivity. One of the recurring themes in Melo’s art is the use of papel picado to interconnect art pieces. For example, in the piece Nuestras Raices (2017), on the right hand of the painting, papel picado is seen to drift of the right side of the painting, however the piece Procession Piece (2020) has papel picado from the left side of the piece to the right side. Although it main seem coincidental for the papel

 picado to be in the exact same place across different art pieces, when looking into Melo's website there seems to be quite a few art pieces (at least 5 pieces) which include papel picado. Another recurring theme that I saw when I skimmed through Mel’s website was the use of skulls in her art. The skulls seem to represent the eternity of the Chicano culture and how in Chicano and Hispanic culture the line between life and death are fine. Even after death life is celebrated in the Chicano culture. In Harlow’s presentation he mentioned how Melo grew up in El Sereno, California, when he mentioned this, it hit home in a sense because when I was younger, we used to commonly spend weekends in East La, as it was predominantly Hispanic populated, and my parents felt comfortable in that area. Overall, Melo Dominguez is a Latinx artist who has created art pieces which intersect in many different aspects including life, culture, and family.