Chicano-Mexican art show opens in Monterrey

From today, and until June 23, opens its doors to the public the most important and wide sample of Chicano-Mexican art, with the work of artists from Southern California, United States, in the Main Hall Nave Two of the Center of the Arts, inside the Fundidora Park, Monterrey. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL), along with AltaMed Health Services of Los Angeles, the exhibition Building bridges in the era of walls. Chicano / Mexican art from Los Angeles to Mexico, presents 59 works by 29 artists of different generations with Mexican ancestry.

Melissa Segura Guerrero, technical secretary of the Council for Culture and the Arts of Nuevo León (Conarte), said that beyond walls, the artistic connection between creators from Southern California and Mexico exemplifies that art is an infallible bridge between peoples, cultures, and societies. "It is a very timely presentation at the moment in which we are confronted with controversies and dialogues about divisions, walls, and borders, it is an answer to that dialogue as part of the responsibility of the public body so that, from the promotion of the sample of Chicano art, a reflection can be generated".

The Conarte official highlighted the usefulness for the community of Nuevo León to appreciate a show that highlights the cultural connection of artists, between their Mexican heritage and the American experience, and how their art connects both countries. The exhibition, which will open today at 8:00 p.m., is part of the cultural policy that adds actions of the Ministry of Culture and INBAL with Conarte, to give a national dimension to the work of the states of the country, he stressed.

This, through the creation of a circuit that connects the entities with migrants, to strengthen the ties between Chicano and Mexican-American creators with the artistic creators of Mexico, said Segura Guerrero. Building bridges in the era of walls, exploring the hybrid character of the Chicano culture through five important themes: rebellious diamonds from the south, imagining paradises, foreigners in their own home, mapping identity, and overcoming separations in cultural duality.

Previously, Julián Bermúdez, curator of the exhibition, said that the Chicano struggle was born in the mid-1960s, along with the Protestants of the Vietnam War and the "Black Power" movement in favor of civil rights. This struggle, he added, challenged the categorization and stereotypes, widely spread among the Anglo-Saxon population, as well as public schools, which proclaimed that Latinos were too inferior to achieve a middle-class standard of living.

"By broadening the perspective of the appreciation of Chicano and Latino art beyond its strictly geographical home, this exhibition highlights the inexorable ties that these artists have with Mexico, and how these ties transcend individual identity and borders." Marco Granados, the coordinator of Aesthetic Research and Curatorial Development of the Arts Center, considered that the exhibition will give the guidelines and permission to demand, talk, discuss and discuss not only the issue of migration but also about civil rights, human rights, and participation of women.

"The analysis of migration is one of the most fortunate things that has happened to humanity in the twentieth century, however, I think that will be a good topic to review in Monterrey, where it is very difficult for us to understand the other and we are reluctant to understand it, and sometimes we choose to ignore it and turn to the other side". In the exhibition, the public will be able to appreciate pieces of different techniques and formats such as El Arte Chicano (1974) by Beto de la Rocha; Judy F. Baca as La Pachuca (1976); Phyra c. (1980) by Patssi Valdez; Carro con Corazón by Frank Romero (1987); 1. The Four (Beto de la Rocha, Gilbert "Magu" Lujan, and Frank Romero) of 20th Anniversary Collective Mural (1994).

Also, Paleta Cart by Gary Garay (2004); Cartolandia by Ana Serrano (2008); Middle East L.A. by José Ramírez (2009); Alienation by Man One (2014); Drive-In by John Valadez (2014); America is for Dreamers by Patrick Martínez (2016-2017) and A Cinderella Story for Everyday Objects by Gabriela Ruiz (2018). The authors of the works shown in the exhibition are: Roberto "Beto" de la Rocha, Frank Romero, Patrick Martinez, Harry Gamboa Jr., Johnny KMNDZ Rodríguez, José Ramírez, Judith F. Baca, Donna Deitch, Carlos Almaraz, Solomon Huerta, Gil Garcetti, Ana Serrano, Shizu Saldamando, Gary Garay, Ramiro Gomez, Jamex and Einar de la Torre.

Also, Viviana "Viva" Paredes, Man One, Eloy Torrez, Rodrigo García, Patssi Valdez, Roberto Gil de Montes, Gronk, Yolanda Gonzalez, Camille Rose Garcia, Judithe Hernandez, Linda Vallejo, Gabriela Ruiz aka Leather Papi, John Valadez, Leticia Maldonado, the groups Asco and Los Four, Sam Macnaught and Artemio Rodríguez. In September 2018, Building bridges in the era of walls. Chicano / Mexican art from Los Angeles to Mexico, began a national tour at the Carrillo Gil Museum of Art in Mexico City; his second stop was the Clavijero Cultural Center in Michoacán.

After Nuevo León you will be at the Museum of the Seven Regions in Acapulco; in the Museum of the Oaxaqueños Painters (Mupo) of Oaxaca; and at the Museum of Arts of the University of Guadalajara (Musa), in the capital of Jalisco, to conclude his tour at the Tijuana Cultural Center (Cecut).