Upon entering the Blanton Museum of Art, which was packed with bustling people of all ages and ethnicities headed left, right, and up towards the towering bright blue and white stairs to the permanent exhibitions, I decided to explore an exhibition that caught my attention. When I stepped inside, I was immediately immersed with vibrant energy and bright, electric colors in Arte Sin Fronteras: Prints from the Self-Help Graphics Studio. I felt drawn to this exhibition for many reasons. The first being that this was organized in such a way that I felt I went through a journey through Chicanx and Latinx history, seeing and learning about religious traditions, ongoing issues of migration at the U.S./Mexico border, gender roles, as well as cultural heritage and civil rights. The second reason was that I felt a strong sense of community. These reasons, including my own biracial identity of half Caucasian and half Hispanic, are why I chose to explore this exhibition in depth. I felt a connection here that I did not with the other exhibition, and that resonated with me as I’m sure it did with the other visitors, whom were primarily Hispanic. When it comes to Chicanx and Latinx art, I had never experienced seeing these type of works in person, let alone in a town where I was born. Seeing some of these works in person made me appreciate the detail and the process that these artists pour into the work a lot more as well as appreciate the history more. Some artists that stuck out to me while I was visiting the exhibition were Leo Limon, David Botello, Patssi Valdez, and Gronk. Their works were captivating, as were the rest of the exhibition, but I felt a deeper connection to the works from these artists and their use of vibrant colors as well as displaying messages of Hispanic history, culture, and societal issues. The works in this exhibition ranged from Modern to Contemporary art, but I mainly experienced pieces that resembled the style of Art Nouveau and Abstract Expressionism. An artist that I took a personal liking to, called Gronk, had a piece called Dumbbell that reminded me of works by Pollock and de Kooning, incorporating jagged lines, odd-looking shapes, and a flurry of colors into his work. Of course, Gronk and artists like Pollock and de Kooning should not be placed on a scale, as their works all have their own identities and meanings, but the jagged lines and bright colors that Gronk used in Dumbbell resembled the same art movement of Abstract Expressionism. Other artists, such as Patssi Valdez, had a more Surrealist approach in her work with the addition of politics, religion, and her own cultural identity. In her work, titled The Dressing Table, Valdez incorporates deep shades of blues and greens into this piece, making it appear to be in a dream-like setting or even other-worldly, which reminded me of Surrealist works. On the table are neatly placed perfume bottles, one adorned with a rosary, a lit, cylindrical candle with yellow, sharp lines shooting out of the top, a yellow chest with pearls seeping out of the opening, a heart-shaped locket, and a photo of a Catholic saint on the wall. Like I had mentioned previously, Valdez primarily incorporates her own religion into her works, and in this piece, it is evident where her religion is incorporated. However, it is not the forefront of this piece. Instead, the perfume bottles and other items placed on top of the dresser are what the viewer see’s first. It makes me wonder if Valdez wanted to incorporate scenes from everyday life as the focal point to draw a sense of connection with the viewer. I appreciated that in this piece, all five of my senses were evoked. I could feel the sense of relaxation and comfort with the various shades of blue. I could smell the lit candle sitting in the upper-left corner of the table. I could see what kind of person these items belonged to, as well as touch the religious items such as the rosary and the religious painting. Lastly, artist Sam Z. Coronado had a work titled Pan Dulce that I found visually striking. In this piece, Coronado uses primarily primary colors, with pink and white pan dulce pastries in the lower right corner on a canary table, while a pink shape, of what appears to be a person, sits in a green table with a cup of coffee. This piece evoked a sense of the normal, everyday life to me, as well as displaying traditional aspects of Chicanx food. The pan dulce is essential because of how inexpensive it is to make, making is easily consumable and accessible. Growing up, I always thought pan dulce was so pretty to look at, considering the colors they come in are pink, white, and sometimes blue. Seeing the pink pan dulce brought up a lot of good memories from my childhood and created a sense of deep connectivity with this work. This piece felt very lighthearted, pure, and fun, almost in a child-like manner especially since Coronado used primary colors. Additionally, while Valdez and Coronado are on one side of an art movement and Gronk is on a different side, they all are essential to the Arte Sin Fronteras exhibition because their works aid in the story telling of Chicanx and Latinx history and the different approaches that Chicanx artists take when telling their stories through their artwork. I found myself feeling a little lost at times during this exhibition. While I was immersed in the art, history, and culture, I felt like I was in a maze not really knowing or understanding where one portion of the exhibition started, ended, or even continued. I could tell though that the way it was set up was supposed to make it easier for viewers to become immediately attracted to this exhibition with large fonts and misconstrued arrows, however I felt quite different with the museums approach. Upon entering the museum, you must first approach the counter, which was full of people darting left, right, and center, which made it hard to get the information you needed from one of the staff. After that, I decidedly walked to my left and went through an exhibition called Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders, which, after many twists and turns and overall confusion, eventually led me into the Arte Sin Fronteras exhibition. It would have been nice if there were more indicators as to which exhibition ended and where another began, so that it felt less like a maze and made the exhibition feel more like separate entities, considering that the two exhibitions were on completely different topics. I wish that they had dedicated that area all to Chicanx and Latinx work and history, or all to medieval history to focus on one thing at a time. All in all, once I knew where I was, there was no more confusion and I appreciated the variety. On the offhand, I still fully experienced the history and traditions of these Chicanx and Latinx artists. There were also brief summaries of the artists and movements that certain areas of the exhibition were displaying. One of the first sections was based off the book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua and how artists incorporated Anzaldua’s theme of immigration and the border crisis in America and Mexico. In Victor Ochoa’s piece, titled Border Bingo, he created a spin on a traditional Mexican card game called la Lotería, where instead of the usual icons on the card, such as instruments, people, animals, plants, and so forth, he replaced them with border patrol agents, stereotypes of Chicanxs tourists, and other political satires. Ochoa’s approach at taking a jab at politics as well as the tension between the U.S. and Mexico, is lighthearted in the way it parallels to the fun, traditional game of la Lotería. In the game, there is no talk of politics at the dinner table so to speak, but in Ochoa’s version, he is readily calling attention to the realities of migration in an accessible way to the public. One of the last works that I felt compelled to talk about is David Botello’s Long Life to the Creative Force. This work uses a few of the same colors: blue, yellow, and green. In the center of the piece sits an older woman, who is seated with her legs crossed and in her hands she is holding two tails, connected from the ends of creatures next to her, into a ball. On her left is a type of serpent with an extremely long tongue, and on her left, appears to be a type of Chinese dragon with a mask and large fangs. The serpent is facing the older woman, while the dragon is facing the viewer. The background is primarily a dark blue with a bright yellow moon right next to the old woman’s head. The woman’s face appears to be very stoic, yet strong and has very gentle, calm eyes. She appears as if she holds the entire world in her hands. This piece was one of my favorites because of how powerful it feels. The two animals are a bit scary, but the woman and her aura of calmness, and especially powerful, do not make me feel scared in the least. She makes me feel like she oversees the world, and to put my trust in her, almost a God-like figure. Another reason I feel like this work is strong is because of the creatures. The serpent is facing the woman, almost as if he takes orders from her and does whatever she tells him to. The creature to the right of the woman facing the viewers projects this air of being powerful because of the direct eye contact. It is hard to break away from the eye contact once you make it with the creature and with the powerful woman. The title itself is powerful, especially with the word Creative Force, which makes me think about religious deities and other figures who hold significant amounts of power. I really appreciated how this work stood out from the others and made itself very known. The use of blue, yellow, and green along with the swirls of the serpent’s body and tongue along with the moon reminded me of the Expressionism movement. The vivid imagery immediately made me create a story in my mind, and the artist leaving a little ambiguity leaves myself and the viewers to connect with the work and fill in the gaps of the story with our own interpretations and religious aspects. Visiting Arte Sin Fronteras was eye-opening. When I originally planned to go to the Blanton, I had planned to go to the Medieval Monsters exhibition, but I was dissatisfied with the works on display and felt no connection to that area. I eventually found my way to an exhibition that taught me more about myself and about the history, culture, and experience of being Chicanx. I liked how in this exhibition there were works from Chicanx artists that told the viewer about migration, political issues, history, and culture, but I also liked the fact that some of these Chicanx artists displayed works that depicted simple things such as pan dulce and everyday life, and even God-like entities, strong women figures, and rural lifestyles. I felt as though I went through a new-age time capsule for just Latinx and Chicanx history, dating from early to contemporary art. I can take what I’ve learned and the experience I had at this exhibition and apply it to my life. A strong sense of community was also very apparent. While this exhibition was open to the public, when I looked around I saw people that looked like me who also appreciated the work that was on the wall, because it came from people like us. I’m happy that I changed my mind and stumbled across this wonderful exhibition.
Word Count: 2,027 Photo Credit: Bret Brookshire, The Austin Chronicle