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The CAM symbolizes Mexican-American artists establishing a unique artistic identity in the U.S. The works of to resist and challenge dominant social norms and stereotypes for cultural autonomy and self-determination. Influenced by post-Mexican Revolution ideologies, pre-Columbian art, European painting techniques and Mexican-American social, political and cultural issues. Chicano art serves as a way of continuing to inform Chicano Youth and unify around their culture and histories.
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López's Margaret F. Stewart: Our Lady of Guadalupe (1978) displays her mother wearing a pink dress sewing the Virgin of Guadalupe's starred blue mantle. An angel with green, white, and red wings rests on his elbows in the pose of the well-known putto in Raphael's 16th century Sistine Madonna. The composition choice inverts the power hierarchy between the divine figure and the humans she is said to protect - crediting Latina and Chicana women with the creation of Our Lady of Guadalupe. -
López's Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe (1978) shows herself in the Virgin of Guadalupe's pink tunic backed by a bright mandorla halo. She's striding joyfully, holding the mantle across her shoulder like a marathon runner's victory flag. She clutches a snake by the neck in her right hand as her skips over a fallen angel; wearing wings of red, white, and blue (the colors of the U.S. flag). With full self-possession, she bounds forward carrying history, but unburdened by it. -
Almaraz's I Dreamed I Could Fly (1986) compromises of his developed, personal visual language of objects and animals, presented as narrative scenes, or, as in this case, a swirl of dreamlike remembrances. Drawn elements from his daily life in Los Angeles and childhood memories, he often refers to Catholic traditions and indigenous folklore of Mexico. Throughout his intimate, psychological works; Almaraz's bicultural Mexican American identity was a powerful source of inspiration. -
Almaraz's Night Magic (Blue Jester) (1988) was inspired by velvet paintings sold on the U.S.-Mexico border, representing urban Los Angeles exploding with sensuous colors and populated by shadows suggestive of Almaraz's lonely alter egos. These non-narrative images of Los Angeles addressed both his cultural affiliations and sense of isolation with living with AIDS. Almaraz was a pioneering Chicano artist who produced art for the U.S. Farm Workers Union and cofounded Los Four (Chicano collective). -
Garza's Virgen Guadalupe (1991) represents the intertwining of faith, family, and community that is fundamental to the Chicano experience. The Virgin of Guadalupe is a powerful unifying symbol within both Mexican and Chicano culture, a deep spiritual and cultural identity. It's a celebratory validation of a cultural heritage that was often marginalized; her inclusion is in great efforts as Chicano Artists create a visual language for people and culture that had been historically overlooked. -
Garza's Quinceañera (Fifteenth Birthday) (2001) showcases a Mexican tradition, quinceañera; a Catholic celebration of a girl's fifteen birthday party, marking the change from childhood to young womanhood. The blue car carries the birthday girl, a young women wearing a light pink (symbolizing purity) dress and a tiara. There are the fourteen "damas" (hot pink) and "chambelanes" (suits). Mass will be given first to which her godparents will award her with a locket of the Virgin of Guadalupe.