Week 9: Suzy Gonzalez

In this week's presentations I really enjoyed the artist Suzy Gonzalez, particularly her work 36-24-36. The first thing that stood out to me were the vibrant colors and the style that made it look like a vintage Coca Cola ad. It's a representation of the female body and the famous measurements 36 bust, 24 waist and 36 hips that results in the 'ideal' body type. Yet it's not a body, it's a conglomerate of different foods, watermelon representing breasts, soda cans in a hourglass shape that make up the torso and tacos that extend into wide hips. It's part of her collection Objects of Desire, I felt like as a woman we constantly fight with the concept of desire. We want to be desired as a natural instinct but with the over sexualization of our bodies, we also hate the desire that others have towards us because it makes us feel like just that; an object of desire and not a person of desire. I think it's really clever to use food as a means of art, we all eat and have bodies so its something that relates to everyone and makes you think twice about the ideals about bodies we have as societal norms. Gonzalez also mentions she uses Xicana veganism as a means to decolonize one's diet and bring us back to our ancestors plant based eating habits which I thought was really interesting because now Mexican and Chicano diets consist of mostly meat and its important to shed light that it wasn't always that way.

Week 8: Maria Izquierdo

One of the presentations I really enjoyed last week was on Maria Izquierdo. Her painting Sueño y Presentimiento really stuck out to me. Its very vivid yet dark, when I first looked at it I got a feeling of vulnerability and pain which is what I feel Maria was truly feeling at the time of its making. I think her use of self portraits really bring the piece together because of the way her hair is intertwined with the trees branches. Its as if her and the earth are one and the acceptance of that is both enlightening, depicted by the rose and blue cross and its also a very trauma filled acceptance, depicted by the beaming red body that seems to almost be crying for mercy. I also think its interesting that her and Frida Kahlo'a work have similarities in their vivid self portraiture and they both were coming up as artist around the same time with also both of them having recognition and affiliation by Diego Rivera. It makes me question why her work isn't as known if it conveys a similar feeling of vulnerability and strength as do the painting of Kahlo. 

Week 7: Patssi Valdez

Patssi Valdez. Farewell, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 49 x 36 in.

One of the images that I will be discussing in my presentation is Farewell, 2006, by Patssi Valdez. Valdez was one of the founding members and only woman in the chicano 'punk art' group Asco in the 1970's. Her later paintings differ a lot from her work with Asco , the sort of take on a life of their own. In this particular paint, Valdez brings us into an intimate space and gives the illusion of motion while in it. She does this to convey the energetic vibration of the room, in an interview with the LA Times she mentions that after she went to therapy she began to heal and projected what she was feeling onto these paintings. She understood that the self work needed to be internal which pushed her to start painting rooms because the rooms were real places where she's existed and where dark emotions were felt. She is a very colorful artist in that most of her painting are bright and full of color which I feel brings life and an intriguing aspect to her swirls and motion-full images. This painting brings a sense of sorrow, its like you're sitting with the trauma and darkness of your mind but you're not necessarily scared, you're kind of watching it(the pain) rather than feeling it, allowing you to heal from it.

Week 6: Sketchbook Cover

The image that I will be stenciling on my journal is this sacred geometric shape from the symbol of The Kybalion. The Kybalion is a book that discusses the 7 Hermetic principles of the ancient Hermetic philosophy. These are 7 laws that hermetic philosophers wrote about their interpretation of existence, many are quotes that people follow or know of today including "The Universe is Mental" "As Above, So Below" or "The Measure of the Pendulum Swing to the Left is the Measure of the Pendulum Swing to the Right". This image is very powerful in what it represents and for me, its empowering as well as enlightening. The largest circle in the image represents the universe or what some may know as the heavens, all that is etc. The triangle inside of the big circle represents the spirit world which is in balance with the universe. The square inside of the triangle represents our physical earth, all four corners representing the four elements. Then lastly the circle is us, it is the individual that lies in the center of all that it, of the universe, the ethers and the world. To me this shows that we are a balance of all that exists. This symbol and this book are very significant to me as they enlightened and empowered me during a very trying time in my life and allowed me to realize; what I was put here to do, how I must stay in balance with my spirituality and practicality and, how I am connected to everything and everyone so I must remain a pure and positive vessel to be able to project that unto others. It's helpful that the image itself its already connected with each line so creating a stencil should not be too difficult. Although I am choosing to stencil this particular image I may want to add some details that represent my Chicanidad because although I do find empowerment in this philosophy it is ultimately my identity as a Chicana that has allowed me to have the experience I am having on this physical plane.

Week 4 Ofelia Esparza

I really enjoyed our guest speaker Ofelia Esparza’s presentation last week. I truly felt her energy and wisdom move me as she told her life and art story. It made me realize the importance and true art behind altars and altaristas. There are so many layers to the intimacy of an altar. It is a bridge from us and our physical world to our ancestors and allows us to pay them homage. By giving them ofrendas and thanking them for their presence in your lineage you are acknowledging your own life and affirming your appreciation for it. The intimacy and character of an altar comes with the personalization of it, how she’s added Its also a way to keep your ancestors alive, allowing their energy to fill your home by keeping them part of your daily routine and celebrating them. She also mentioned she would get a lot of help making the flowers from her family and they would create some of the altars together, to me that made me think of a ceremony which feels more spiritual and a more community-like activity. She definitely made me want to connect with my ancestors more through my art and to constantly have them in my memory. 

Rasquachismo and Domesticana

Rasquachismo is defined as neither an idea nor a style but more of an attitude or taste. I think thats what makes Rasquachismo so revolutionary in its use. Its defined in many ways because of its reclamation, to some it may be a taste but to others it may be a lifestyle. A humorous and playful acclamation of a lifestyle of resourcefulness and creation. It's almost like a double edged sword in favor of the empowerment to Chicanos as it represents both affirmation and resistance. Similarly, its sister counterpart is also a paradox of both the "affirmation of the domestic life and a resistance to the subjugation of the women in the domestic sphere"(95) I think the results of both affirmation and resistance in Rasquachismo and Domesticana are what make them powerful tools. They dont solely neglect nor solely affirm, they are not one nor the other, they are simulatenously both, much like the identity of a Chicanx person. It affirms the idea that we are not a single manifestation, oppression and poverty are not the only stories that we have to tell. We have rich and resourceful souls that manifest in the form of constant creation, they manifest in the form of altars, used tire flower pots, the Teatro Campesino etc. These manifestations are then used as reclamation of our identity; our identity in the in between.
I think the topic of Rasquachismo is interesting because personally it was the way I lived my life but it wasn't until I got to higher education when I learned there was a term for it. Making do with what you have has always been a lifestyle for my family and I. Learning about it feels like its redefining the familiar; I never realized capirotada is a 'leftovers' creation. You make something beautiful (and delicious) out of the scraps you have. It gives me a sense of empowerment, like the resilience of a poverty lifestyle is actually something to admire. Its like giving colorful energy to what would otherwise be a scarce and mundane life.

Yolanda Lopez' Your vote has power

I really enjoy Lopez' work because of all the different elements she uses as well as the content she conveys through her images. Her art is profound in the way it delivers its message and in ' Your Vote Has Power piece from her Women's Work Is Never Done series she delivers her message through humor. In this piece there is an Ecuadoran woman carrying a baby while putting her voting ballot in the box. The humor in it is that Lopez' intention was to create "the most frightening thing that governor Pete Wilson could imagine during his campaign to support California Proposition 187"(56) which she imagined would be a fertile woman of color voting. She decided to depict this image because prop 187 would restrict the access that immigrants had to vital human resources (education, medical, and social services). She has the incredible ability to allow an image to actually speak with her attention to detail. She never has to put into words that fertility is a threat, its shown through the way a working woman with a child and agency is seen as resistance. There are a lot of traces of her early career as a political artist in this although it was created almost 30 years later, you can see the evolution between Free Los Ciete (1969) and Your Vote Has Power(1997) yet both have the underlying energy of profoundness.

Patssi Valdez

For my presentation, I have decide to do it on Patssi Valdez. Mainly because of her role as a Chicana artist in a predominately male group (ASCO) which also was a big influence on chicanx art.

I really enjoyed Gaspar de Alba's "Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whore's Mask" reading, mainly because of its emphasis on the lack of Chicana artist representation in CARA but also because of her critique of the male dominated art and what that represents. Towards the end when she discussed Marcos Raya's "Through Frida's Eyes" piece, she gives a constructive and positive  narrative of the power and gender dynamics. Later she reinforces the lack of Chicana representation by mentioning the irony that only one of the five pieces of Frida Kahlo were made by a woman and questions whether Frida was just being used for representational purposes for the female gender rather than actual inclusivity of the artist. I also really enjoyed the different artistic representations of the traditional virgin/mother/whore as la Virgen de Guadalupe/La Llorona/ La Malinche, seeing there being an actual expression of these roles sort of made the labels that we are usually given as Chicanas more real and vulnerable. I especially resonated with Yolanda Lopez' "Portrait of the Artist as the Virgen De Guadalupe" where she describes that the Virgen is 'jumping off the crescent moon, jumping off the pedestal she's been given by Chicanos'. Growing up with three older brothers in a Mexican household felt like the epitome of machismo, and Catholicism being something that was culturally inherited to me and prevalent throughout my life, I always found myself looking up to La Virgen and finding strength in being a woman because of her. I would always wonder if she were alive would she be going against or working to dismantle the male patriarchy that has been a big underlying component in Mexican/Chicanx culture.

2020GutierrezGraciela

Hey everyone! My name is Graciela Gutierrez, I'm a third year chicanx studies major and hoping to minor in film. My pronouns are she, her, hers. Im from Fresno California, a predominately Mexican city so I'm really excited to be able to learn about the art aspects of what its like being chicanx. Im not currently involved in any research but I am currently doing a designing internship where im expanding my talents as to further develop my skills in designing, modeling, creative directing, styling, marketing etc. My interests are in the arts, I want to be able to express all the different manifestations of who I am through the creation of art through any and every medium. I currently design clothes, write poetry, and creative direct photoshoots with the intention to become a multifaceted creator for a living. Im taking this course because I want to become more familiar with visual art through painting, collages, drawing etc while learning about the artist who have paved the way for and inspired people like me to even have the opportunity to create.