Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below posts in this series:
Arte Latino Textiles
Arte Latino Prints
Arte Latino Sculptures - Part I
Arte Latino Sculptures - Part II
Arte Latino Paintings - Part I
Arte Latino Paintings - Part II
Arte Latino Prints
Artist and Title of Work: Judith Baca, Las Tres Marias (The Three Marys) (1976).
Technique and Materials: Colored pencil on paper, wood, cloth and mirror.
Size: 173.4 x 127.6 x 5.7 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Museum purchase possible by W.T. Evans.
Comment[1]: Two strong women flank a mirror that serves to place the viewer at the center of the visual field. At left is a modern young chola (contemporary member of a street gang), dressed casually and gazing unflinchingly at the viewer, her hands in her pocket. At the right is a portrait of Baca dressed as a pachuca (member of a street gang from the 1940s) taking a drag from her cigarette. Through the updating of the centuries old theme of the three Marys of the crucifixion, Baca explores personal and cultural identity and challenges the viewers to position themselves - literally and figuratively - on such issues as gender, ethnicity and class.
Artist and Title of Work: Maria Castagliola, A Matter of Trust (1994).
Technique and Materials: Paper on fiberglass with cotton thread.
Size: 183 x 183 x 0.3 cm.
Acquisition: Gift of Artist.
Comment[1]: "There are very few relationships," the artist states, "in which you can share everything and trust that there is going to be support and understanding." Castagliola collected these secrets with the understanding that they were never to be opened. To ensure this, she sealed the quilt between sheets of fiberglass window screen. This added a formal element to her artwork, the padded surface shimmering with yet another pattern.
Artist and Title of Work: Maria Martinez-Canas, Totem Negro XVI (1992).
Technique and Materials: Silver print.
Size: 135.9 x 23.8 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquistion Program.
Comment[1]: In Totem Negro XVI, carefully collaged signs and symbols give visual form to Martinez-Canas' feelings about being an exile. These fragments of ancient manuscripts, postage stamps, geographic forms, pre-Columbian temples, and maps reflect her struggle to reclaim her Cuban heritage. The collaged geographic and organic shapes are scratched and drawn upon, before being adhered to sheets of clear plastic that serve as handmade 'negatives'. Martinez-Canas then prints a limited edition of contact prnts on black-and-white photographic paper.
Artist and Title of Work: Delilah Montoya, Los Jovenes (Youth) (1993).
Technique and Materials: Collotype.
Size: 20.3 x 25.4 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Donation by Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.
Comment[1]: Montoya uses a 19th century collotype technique in which the negative is inked and printed, a process that blends photographic documentation and manipulation. Los Jovenes is a part of a series entitled El Corazon Sagrado (The Sacred Heart), a religious and cultural symbol that blends European Catholicism and Aztec philosophy. According to Chicano art scholar Dr Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, 'the heart has served as a symbol of resilience, bound both to visual iconography and to the process of creation itself' In this heartfelt work, Montoya has created a striking image of family strength - and love.
Artist and Title of Work: Vik Muniz, Sugar Children series (1996).
Technique and Materials: Silver prints.
Size: 35.6 x 27.9 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Museum purchase made possible by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.
Comment[1]: The power of the image lies in its ability to be underestimated. They're sweet simple things. You think you know what you're looking at," says Muniz, who wants the viewer to look anew at these representations. These prints asks the eye to question what it sees, posing a relationship between reality, truth, representation and memory.
Artist and Title of Work: Kathy Vargas, Missing #3 (1992).
Technique and Materials: Silver prints.
Size: Each 61 x 50.8 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Museum purchase made possible by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.
Comment[1]: Missing #3 consists of six hand-colored gelatin silver prints that the artist created through multiple-exposure photography. Together they create a haunting, poetic memento mori (reminder of cycle of life, death and resurrection). In this X-ray like image, a dark and lifeless bird is tucked into a band of clothing, feathers are strewn about, and broken twigs form an abstract pattern. The inspiration for the artwork came from a dream in which Vargas was lying in a coffin. As mourners paid their final respects, she was transformed into a bird. This is symbolized in the central panels, in which the bird and the skeleton merge. To the right, she said, 'is an image...waiting to wing out, but unwilling to walk for now.' Multiple hands appear, the palm in the upper left print mirrored by the skeletal one in the lower center. The hand colored image bears the artist's imprint throughout. An inscription on the back reads: 'At some point the two dreams merge into a recognizable self-portrait.'
Reference:
[1] J. Yorba, Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York (2001).
For your convenience I have listed below posts in this series:
Arte Latino Textiles
Arte Latino Prints
Arte Latino Sculptures - Part I
Arte Latino Sculptures - Part II
Arte Latino Paintings - Part I
Arte Latino Paintings - Part II
Arte Latino Prints
Technique and Materials: Colored pencil on paper, wood, cloth and mirror.
Size: 173.4 x 127.6 x 5.7 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Museum purchase possible by W.T. Evans.
Comment[1]: Two strong women flank a mirror that serves to place the viewer at the center of the visual field. At left is a modern young chola (contemporary member of a street gang), dressed casually and gazing unflinchingly at the viewer, her hands in her pocket. At the right is a portrait of Baca dressed as a pachuca (member of a street gang from the 1940s) taking a drag from her cigarette. Through the updating of the centuries old theme of the three Marys of the crucifixion, Baca explores personal and cultural identity and challenges the viewers to position themselves - literally and figuratively - on such issues as gender, ethnicity and class.
Technique and Materials: Paper on fiberglass with cotton thread.
Size: 183 x 183 x 0.3 cm.
Acquisition: Gift of Artist.
Comment[1]: "There are very few relationships," the artist states, "in which you can share everything and trust that there is going to be support and understanding." Castagliola collected these secrets with the understanding that they were never to be opened. To ensure this, she sealed the quilt between sheets of fiberglass window screen. This added a formal element to her artwork, the padded surface shimmering with yet another pattern.
Technique and Materials: Silver print.
Size: 135.9 x 23.8 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquistion Program.
Comment[1]: In Totem Negro XVI, carefully collaged signs and symbols give visual form to Martinez-Canas' feelings about being an exile. These fragments of ancient manuscripts, postage stamps, geographic forms, pre-Columbian temples, and maps reflect her struggle to reclaim her Cuban heritage. The collaged geographic and organic shapes are scratched and drawn upon, before being adhered to sheets of clear plastic that serve as handmade 'negatives'. Martinez-Canas then prints a limited edition of contact prnts on black-and-white photographic paper.
Technique and Materials: Collotype.
Size: 20.3 x 25.4 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Donation by Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.
Comment[1]: Montoya uses a 19th century collotype technique in which the negative is inked and printed, a process that blends photographic documentation and manipulation. Los Jovenes is a part of a series entitled El Corazon Sagrado (The Sacred Heart), a religious and cultural symbol that blends European Catholicism and Aztec philosophy. According to Chicano art scholar Dr Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, 'the heart has served as a symbol of resilience, bound both to visual iconography and to the process of creation itself' In this heartfelt work, Montoya has created a striking image of family strength - and love.
Technique and Materials: Silver prints.
Size: 35.6 x 27.9 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Museum purchase made possible by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.
Comment[1]: The power of the image lies in its ability to be underestimated. They're sweet simple things. You think you know what you're looking at," says Muniz, who wants the viewer to look anew at these representations. These prints asks the eye to question what it sees, posing a relationship between reality, truth, representation and memory.
Technique and Materials: Silver prints.
Size: Each 61 x 50.8 cm.
Courtesy: Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acquisition: Museum purchase made possible by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.
Comment[1]: Missing #3 consists of six hand-colored gelatin silver prints that the artist created through multiple-exposure photography. Together they create a haunting, poetic memento mori (reminder of cycle of life, death and resurrection). In this X-ray like image, a dark and lifeless bird is tucked into a band of clothing, feathers are strewn about, and broken twigs form an abstract pattern. The inspiration for the artwork came from a dream in which Vargas was lying in a coffin. As mourners paid their final respects, she was transformed into a bird. This is symbolized in the central panels, in which the bird and the skeleton merge. To the right, she said, 'is an image...waiting to wing out, but unwilling to walk for now.' Multiple hands appear, the palm in the upper left print mirrored by the skeletal one in the lower center. The hand colored image bears the artist's imprint throughout. An inscription on the back reads: 'At some point the two dreams merge into a recognizable self-portrait.'
Reference:
[1] J. Yorba, Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York (2001).
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