Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this essay, art historian and curator Sybil Venegas discusses the social and economic conditions that led to the public emergence of Chicana artists in the 1970s. According to Venegas, by the 1970s Chicanas had developed both the economic means, [...]

In this statement, artist Raphael Montañez Ortiz describes the process by which he created Archaeological Find, Number 9. Through a ritualistically-prescribed series of destruction sessions, Ortiz recounts how he ripped the sofa apart, thus “ [...]

Chon Noriega states that as a central figure of the Destructivist movement, Raphael Montañez Ortiz’s (b. 1934) work—between 1957 and 1967—can be understood as a reaction to the social detachment of the postwar avant-garde, thus marking a shift [...]

As the curator of Another Life Up Inside Her Head (1995), an exhibition of seventeen emerging Chicana/Latina artists, Amalia Mesa-Bains considers the precedents for their work, as well as the contemporary contexts in which it has been produced. She [...]

After providing an overview of photographer Miguel Gandert’s (b. 1956) educational background, professional experience in photojournalism, and exhibition history, Van Daren Coke conducts a brief analysis of the artist’s photography as [...]

Van Daren Coke provides a biographical sketch of New Mexico photographer John Candelario’s (1916–93) career, from his work as a correspondent for Life to the exhibition of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1944. While Candelario [...]

Defining art as a combination of technology, formal expression, and ideology, this essay by art historian Shifra M. Goldman addresses the relationship of each element to Chicano art practices, ultimately proposing that resistance from dominant [...]

In this bilingual essay, San Diego artist Roberto Salvador Torres presents the theoretical foundations for a project that traces the development of the United Farm Workers’ Huelga (Strike) banner through a series of four drawings. According to [...]

In this short bilingual essay, Gustavo Valdés highlights the importance of Cuban painter Carmen Herrera (b. 1915) as a harbinger in geometric abstraction, as well as the most senior Latino artist working in New York. Following a brief anecdote of [...]

In these 32 interviews, Gustavo Valdés, Jr. brings together five generations of Cuban artists living and working in both exile and the Diaspora, ranging from those born in the late 1910s, to those raised and educated in the United States who define [...]

In this essay, Shifra M. Goldman discusses the inextricable link between the politics and art of the Chicano movement. Political and social rifts of the 1980s were echoed within the Chicano art world. The main point of contention in both realms was [...]

This is the transcript of an interview between Eva Cockcroft, writer of the journal Art & Artists, and Juan Sanchez—Nuyorican artist and curator of the exhibition Ritual and Rhythm: Visual Forces For Survival (1982)—as well as a couple of the [...]

This essay by Kathy L. Valadez focuses on Chicano artist Alfred Quiroz’s opinion of what constitutes Chicano art and how Mexican mural techniques should be applied to Chicano art. Quiroz defines Chicano art as an art that contains an immediately [...]

In this essay, artist and cultural critic Amalia Mesa-Bains situates spirituality as part of an everyday struggle against domination by Latinos, a set of popular practices that offer critical, alternative histories and an important site of resistance [...]

In this essay, curator and art historian Mari Carmen Ramírez argues that demographic trends and the emergence of multiculturalism have generated renewed debate about the conditions for representation and identity among marginalized groups. While [...]

This is an obituary essay by Alejandro Anreus on the Dominican painter Darío Suro (1918–97). A former student of Diego Rivera and Manuel Rodríguez Lozano during his stay in Mexico in the 1940s, Suro’s trajectory as a painter—evolving from [...]

In this essay, written for the catalogue of the exhibition La Frontera/The Border: Art About the Mexico/United States Border Experience (1993), artist and professor David Avalos describes his experience working at San Diego’s Centro Cultural de la [...]

In this essay, Madeleine Grynsztejn, co-curator of the 1993 exhibition entitled La Frontera/The Border: Art about The Mexico/United States Border Experience, outlines the scope and vision of the show and details the contributions of its 37 artists [...]

In this essay, curator Patricio Chávez discusses the sociopolitical and cultural conditions that led to the development of the 1993 exhibition entitled La Frontera/The Border: Art About the Mexico/United States Border Experience. He addresses the [...]

This essay by Rupert Garcia was included in a special issue of the journal Chismearte that was dedicated to Chicano-Latino “popular art.” In this essay, Garcia challenges the everyday usage of the term “popular art,” as well as its use by [...]

In this curatorial statement, Patricio Chávez and Madeleine Grynsztejn, co-curators of the exhibition La Frontera/The Border: Art About the Mexico/United States Border Experience (1993), describe the project as the “central manifestation” of the [...]

This document is a brief manifesto written by the women’s mural collective Mujeres Muralistas. It states the principles behind their practice of mural painting, emphasizing the importance of collectivity and collaboration to their mission. [...]

In this essay, muralist Judy Baca details the development of the contemporary Chicano mural movement that began in the 1960s, focusing on Los Angeles as the site of some of the most prolific and innovative mural projects. Baca underscores the deep [...]

This essay by Tomás Ybarra-Frausto is included in the 1981 catalogue of selected works from the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, California. Ybarra-Frausto presents a historiography documenting the trajectory of Mexican American artistic traditions [...]

In this essay, Alejandro Anreus outlines the cultural and historical conditions that have influenced what he terms the “iconography of Latin America.” He emphasizes the role of U.S. cultural imperialism and exploitation in the development of a [...]

In this essay, Alejandro Anreus outlines the cultural and historical conditions that have influenced what he terms the “iconography of Latin America.” He emphasizes the role of U.S. cultural imperialism and exploitation in the development of a [...]

In this essay, Manuel Unzueta makes a case for the unique nature of Chicano art. He writes that Chicano art has made great strides toward acceptance in the mainstream art world, and despite many obstacles, Chicano artists continue to create original [...]

In this article, artist and Xalmán Editorial Board member, Manuel Unzueta, charts the distinguishing characteristics of Chicano art explaining why many Chicano artists strive to communicate strong social messages. He argues that while Chicano [...]

This document is an interview between artist and guest curator, Ralph Maradiaga and René Yañez, both co-directors of Galeria de la Raza in San Francisco, California. Yañez speaks about the beginnings of the Chicano Art Movement and the growth the [...]

This essay is a brief curatorial statement by San Francisco artist and guest curator, Ralph Maradiaga on the value of art as a means of recording history. Using the history of the world according to the Aztecs as a backdrop, Maradiaga discusses the [...]

Shifra M. Goldman’s essay provides a brief history of the Chicano Movement and also names some of the early Mexican American women’s political groups, professional associations, and art groups. She discusses the overall failure of the Chicano [...]

Charlotte Moser points out the efflorescence of Chicano art in Texas in the 1970s and how this decade saw the formation of a generation of college-educated Chicano artists; the foundation of Chicano art centers and exhibitions spaces; and the [...]

This essay by artist, scholar, and cultural critic Amalia Mesa-Bains explores the personal, cultural, and social histories that have influenced Chicana artist, Ester Hernández. The author begins with an analysis of one of Hernández’s most famous [...]

This essay by Chicano artist Rupert Garcia explores the use of the term “the other” in order to define and separate minority groups within mainstream Western culture and how this is reflected in art. The catalyst for this discussion is an exhibit [...]

This is a brief essay by Denver, Colorado, artist, Manuel J. Martinez on the social and cultural functions of “Arte de Aztlán” [Art of Aztlán]. The author views artistic expression as an antidote for, as well as a response to, the collective [...]

Alicia María González’s recount of the Chicano mural movement in Southern California sketches the social and political circumstances in the U.S. during the 1960s and ‘70s that generated the mural movement, as well as the ones that led to its [...]

In this brief essay, Gilberto Sánchez Luján addresses the conditions that have led to a difficult understanding of Chicano art on the part of the general public. The author identifies two primary issues that have impeded the development of Chicano [...]

This document is an interview between Ralph Maradiaga and Patricia Rodriguez, one of the founding members of Mujeres Muralistas, a collective of Chicana artists that painted murals in the San Francisco Mission District during the 1970s. Rodriguez [...]

This essay by Rolando Castellón is the introduction to the catalogue of the exhibition, Mano a Mano: Abstracción/Figuración, which he curated in 1989. According to Castellón, even though Latin American artists have contributed to the development [...]

Amalia Mesa-Bains’s essay proposes a historical lineage of heart imagery and the concept of “lo del corazón” [that which comes from the heart] that begins in the Mexico’s Aztec ritual of human sacrifice and culminates in public and popular [...]