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Enrique Chagoya: Borderlandia
September 21, 2007 - January 6,
2008
Contemporary icons
such as Mickey Mouse and Wonder Woman intermingle with historical figures
and ancient Aztec gods in fantastic compositions in the Des Moines Art Center's
newest exhibition, Enrique Chagoya: Borderlandia, a 25-year survey
of the Mexican-born, American artist, on view September 21, 2007 through
January 6, 2008.
A borderless world of cultural hybrids and collisions inhabits
Enrique Chagoya's work, in which he combines a diverse selection of visual
material spanning hundreds of years and separated by thousands of miles.
Chagoya taps his personal history and interests-Mexico's complex past, international
politics, various religions, art history, and popular culture. According
to the artist, "Humankind is in constant war with itself, perfectly
capable of total destruction. This is the raw material for my art."
More than 70 lively paintings, mixed-media codices (accordion-folded books),
large-scale charcoal and pastel drawings, and numerous prints will be included
in this expansive survey exhibition.
About the artist:
Born in Mexico City in 1953, Chagoya regularly visited
the museums of the capital city and Teotihuacán as a child. These
cultural institutions provided him with his first exposure to pre-Columbian
culture. Chagoya was influenced by his Catholic upbringing and the socio-political
environment in Mexico, which also inform his art. Chagoya moved to the United
States in 1979 and in 1984 he enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute
where he created the powerful work that begins this mid-career survey exhibition.
Chagoya utilizes traditional Mexican approaches to art making: painting
on aluminum directly refers to the folk art tradition of the ex-voto
or retablo and his paintings on amate-fig bark-allude to the ancient
Aztec and Mayan codex books. Drawing on the rich tradition of Mexican political
prints-particularly José Guadalupe Posada-Chagoya's intelligent and
witty narratives satirize and, at times, celebrate the complicated cultural
and psychological consequences of more than 500 years of contact and influence
between worlds (see enclosed images).
About the exhibition catalogue:
A 100-page, full-color, bilingual-English and Spanish-catalogue
spanning Chagoya's career will accompany the exhibition and will include
a foreword by Art Center Director Jeff Fleming; essays by Patricia Hickson,
Art Center curator; Daniela Pérez, associate curator of contemporary
art at Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City; and Robert
Storr, Dean of the Yale School of Art and Commissioner of the 2007 Venice
Biennale; a catalogue of works in the exhibition; an artist's chronology;
and selected exhibition history. The catalogue will be available for purchase
in the Art Center's Museum Shop.
About the exhibition tour:
After its presentation in Des Moines, Enrique Chagoya:
Borderlandia will be presented at the University of California, Berkeley
Art Museum from February 13 to May 18, 2008, and the Palm Springs Art Museum
from September 12 to December 7, 2008. Enrique Chagoya: Borderlandia
is organized by Patricia Hickson, curator and downtown gallery manager.
Enrique Chagoya: Borderlandia
introductory wall text
- Enrique Chagoya: Borderlandia surveys twenty-five years of the
Mexican-born, San Francisco artist's work. Chagoya taps Mexico's complex
history, international politics, various religions, popular culture, and
the history of art in lively narrative paintings, drawings, codices (accordion-folded
books), and prints. Cultural hybrids and oppositions collide in these fantastical
worlds rooted in social critique and the artist's "reverse anthropology"-the
revisualization of history and culture through the eyes of the defeated.
A single work incorporates a diverse selection of visual material from
different cultures and time periods. Contemporary icons like Mickey Mouse,
Pablo Picasso, Fidel Castro, Monica Lewinsky, and George W. Bush intermingle
with more ancient figures, such as the Aztec god Tlaloc, Buddha, the Virgin
of Guadalupe, and Jesus Christ in imaginative and challenging alternative
histories. Drawing on the rich tradition of Mexican political prints --
particularly those of José Guadalupe Posada -- Chagoya's intelligent
and wry narratives celebrate and satirize the consequences of more than
500 years of contact and influence between divergent ideologies and contested
lands.
-
- Print Corridor Information
- "The first time I saw an etching I was a teenager and I was still
living in Mexico where I grew up, and what I liked about it was the very
mysterious technique. I didn't know how it was made. How could anyone make
such fine lines in an etching? I was intrigued by it.... Somehow I was
always in love with printmaking."
- -Enrique Chagoya
-
- Enrique Chagoya's twenty-five-year survey exhibition calls for a large
selection of the artist's work in print. A prolific printmaker throughout
his career -- in fact, he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in printmaking
-- Chagoya's print subjects have often driven his unique work in other
media. Like Spanish master Francisco Goya -- whose print series Chagoya
appropriates-he has proven to be a great experimenter and innovator in
the printmaking medium. Chagoya regularly works with different printing
presses around the country and utilizes a wide variety of techniques and
technologies. This selection of thirty-three prints includes etching, lithography,
monotype, woodblock, drypoint, aquatint, chine collé, hand coloring,
letterpress, photoengraving, and digital processes.
-
- Social and political satire permeates Chagoya's oeuvre. In "Return
to Goya's Caprichos" (1997) and "Homage to Goya II: Disasters
of War" (1983-2003), Chagoya quotes and updates Goya's iconic print
series -- "Los Caprichos" (179799) and "Disasters
of War" (181020) -- by inserting components and figures from
contemporary politics, religion, art, and popular culture. These include
President Ronald Reagan, Mickey Mouse, Pope John Paul II, a stealth bomber,
a Picasso painting, and many others. Likewise, throughout the prints in
the exhibition, Chagoya uses humorous juxtapositions to address serious
historical and present-day issues -- immigration, religious fanaticism,
xenophobia, and more -- in delightful, yet critical, fantastical narratives.
Nobody emerges unsullied from under the watchful eye of this self-proclaimed
"equal opportunity offender."
-
- Main Gallery Information
- Editorial Cartoons
- Chagoya first exercised his artistic free speech in the large-scale,
charcoal and pastel political cartoons from the mid-1980s to early 1990s.
These mark the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush years, when the conservative
Republican agenda resulted in perceived setbacks in civil and human rights
and, arguably, initiated censorship in the arts. Like Spanish master Francisco
Goya and Mexican popular artist José Guadalupe Posada, Chagoya uses
a dark humor to deliver his political criticism. Invoking the familiar
and adorable Mickey Mouse-by gloved hand, mouse ears, or full costume --
Chagoya introduces the reality of the friendly face that disguises a powerful
administration or corporation.
-
- Paintings and Codices on Amate
- Chagoya draws on ancient art practices in form and material in his
work. Amate -- fig bark -- is the traditional paper of pre-Columbian books.
Known as codices (singular, codex), the accordion-folded manuscripts
read from right to left, these works have assumed a central role in the
artist's oeuvre since 1992. Directly related to the codices, the individual
larger paintings on amate serve as detailed enlargements of individual
codex panels. Like the ancient codices that survive, images and text bleed
through from the reverse, an effect that Chagoya mimics by layering paint
onto the front surface of the paper.
-
- Focused on the idea that official histories are written by the victors,
Chagoya's codices propose alternative versions of the accepted historical
record. Generally centered on a single overarching theme, the books embody
the artist's "reverse anthropology" with lively assemblages of
diverse imagery from disparate cultures across the world over the past
500 years. Joining pre-Columbian artifacts and Eastern religious icons
with American cartoons and international politics, Chagoya arrives at a
more truthful representation of reality in his cacophonous, short-circuited
narratives in their openness to multiple interpretations and resistance
to any final conclusion. Both humorous and insightful, the codices show
the influence of ancient history on contemporary issues as well as the
cyclical relationship between the two.
-
- Paintings on 19th-Century Prints
- Soon after the Conquest of Mexico in 1521, the Spaniards destroyed
countless ancient Aztec books and codices out of fear of the foreign culture
and, as the new reigning power, in order to rewrite the history and culture
from their own viewpont. Since learning about the tragic loss of nearly
all pre-Columbian manuscripts -- essentially, the historical record --
Chagoya developed a penchant for "saving" books. During one of
his annual visits to Mexico City, the artist discovered and purchased two
deteriorating art history books in a flea market. Written in Spanish and
likely published to teach Mexican students about Western art, the books
feature historically prominent European artists -- Joshua Reynolds, Jean
Louis Ernest Meissonier, Anthony van Dyck, and others. Each artist's two-page
spread provides a brief biography on one side and an illustration on the
other. The diptychs form the bases for this series of paintings on prints.
Using "reverse anthropology," Chagoya cannibalizes the canon
of art history. Colorful and vibrant ancient Aztec gods, Catholic icons,
and popular cartoon characters invade the black-and-white compositions.
By over-painting the academic tradition, Chagoya imagines a very different
art history if the Aztecs or another culture had prevailed.
-
- Recent Editorial Cartoons
- In 2004, a second George Bush in the White House for a second term
in office (following his first election win controversy) compelled Chagoya
to revisit the large-scale, charcoal and pastel drawings completed in the
early 1990s. National and global issues of church and state and the Iraq
War preside in the political cartoons that feature popular fairy tale characters,
contemporary political leaders, religious figures, and hybrids of all three.
-
- Poor George
- In 2004, Chagoya created his "Poor George" series of drawings,
a satirical portrait of the life and presidency of George W. Bush. The
artist directly appropriated the style and compositions from artist Philip
Guston's little-known drawing series "Poor Richard" from 1971,
which focused on Richard Nixon. Chagoya's transposition of Bush into the
role of Nixon draws remarkable parallels in their presidencies. The similarities
include counting Reverend Billy Graham as a spiritual advisor, suffering
strained relations with communist nations-China for Nixon and North Korea
for Bush, and supporting unpopular wars --Vietnam for Nixon and Iraq for
Bush. This selection of six "Poor George" works (from Chagoya's
complete series of twenty) includes reproductions of Guston's source images,
to which Chagoya pays homage.
-
- Recent Paintings
- Chagoya tackles the subject of immigration, a hot-button topic in the
upcoming elections. The paintings' politically-charged pallette -- primarily
red and black -- refers symbolically to the Aztec belief system based on
the unification of opposites, like yin and yang of Chinese philosophy.
Simultaneously, with a flash of blue color in Liberty #1, an all-American
red, white, and blue allusion emerges, connoting the United States as the
target destination for a large population of migrants, the subjects pictured
in the works.
Enrique Chagoya: Borderlandia
main gallery labels
- Their Freedom of Expression the Recovery of Their Economy, 1984
- Su libertad de expresión la recuperación de su economía
- Charcoal and pastel on paper
- Collection of the San Jose Museum of Art, California. Gift of the Artist
with additional support from the Museum's Collections Committee, in honor
of the San Jose Museum of Art's 35th Anniversary, 2003.39
-
- In the spirit of the art of political satirists Francisco Goya (Spanish,
17461828) and José Guadalupe Posada (Mexican, 18521913),
Enrique Chagoya first garnered attention for his first large editorial
cartoon Their Freedom of Expression the Recovery of Their Economy,
created specifically for a San Francisco exhibition for the national organization
Artists' Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America. The surprise
popularity of the pointed political work inspired Chagoya to create a cartoon
series.
-
- Chagoya pairs President Ronald Reagan and Chairman of the National
Bipartisan Commission on Central America Henry Kissinger, respectively,
as giant and miniature versions of Mickey Mouse. With identical stances-all
puns intended-the two are caught in the act of painting graffiti messages
onto a wall in red paint/blood, as indicated by the severed body parts
floating in each bucket. Kissinger's tag indicates the beginning of censorship
in the arts and the government's reassessment of arts funding. Chagoya
criticizes Reagan's support of the Contras in Nicaragua, a political stance
that essentially promoted more killing in that country in the pursuit of
a greater good.
-
- 4 U 2 C (For You to See), 1987
- Para que usted vea
- Compressed charcoal and pastel on paper
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Gift of Leonard and Barbara Kaban
-
- In 4 U 2 C, a play on the phrase "for you to see,"
Chagoya directly taps José Guadalupe Posada imagery by including
variations of his signature calaveras-skeletons-in Western dress.
The large male skeleton's features include a nose and mouth that form a
military chevron and eyes that cross in red arrows. His huge cowboy hat
blows off his head while his small companion's Mickey Mouse ears launch
with the force of a missile. The Disney allusion symbolizes the friendly
face that fronts a powerful and potentially dangerous core. In this context,
Chagoya parallels Mickey Mouse with the amiable cowboy President Ronald
Reagan and his Strategic Defense Initiative, better known as the "Star
Wars" nuclear defense plan.
-
- When Paradise Arrived, 1988
- Cuando el paraíso llegó
- Charcoal and pastel on paper
- di Rosa Preserve, Napa, California
-
- The giant gloved hand of Mickey Mouse appears poised to flick an innocent
Latina girl (with a radiating halo and bleeding heart) out of the picture.
Across the middle finger, the words "ENGLISH ONLY!" are written,
referring to the 1986 California referendum that made English the official
language of the state-a harsh blow to the bilingual education laws that
had assisted in the assimilation of a huge population of immigrant children
to the Untied States. Chagoya's exclamatory text confirms the contempt
shown toward minorities and immigrant populations by the dominant powers
of U.S. corporate culture-here exemplified by Disney with Mickey's giant,
gloved hand.
-
- Thesis / Antithesis, 1989
- Tesis / antítesis
- Charcoal and pastel on paper
- Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Gift of Viacom and Bravo, the Film
and Arts Network, 1994.87a-b
-
- A red and black palette dominates much of Chagoya's work. In Aztec
culture, the color combination symbolizes duality and the interdependent
nature of opposites. A basic structural element of Mesoamerican religious
thought, this dual concept holds a place in numerous cultures, including
the yin and yang of Chinese philosophy.
- As indicated by its title, Thesis / Antithesis presents a selection
of paired oppositions: black and red, civilized and natural, clothed and
naked, right side up and upside down, above and below, air and water, gloved
and bare-handed, shoed and barefoot, hand and feet, and sky and air. The
synthesis of the opposites in the image takes place in the mind of the
viewer.
-
- Untitled (Road Map), 2004
- Sin título (Mapa)
- Graphite and pastel on paper
- Hall Collection
-
- In Untitled (Road Map), Chagoya combines elements from literature,
religion, and politics in a surreal composition. Faces of religion-a 20th-century
Jesus and a Byzantine Jesus-dive a military combat helicopter into a shoreline
where Alice stands. Appropriated from John Tenniel's iconic illustrations
of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Alice
balances on the back of the Dodo character (that represents the author
Carroll), holding her flamingo by one leg. Its other leg touches the nose
of the helicopter in a climactic moment of ambiguity-has a magical Alice
saved the Jesuses from a fatal accident, is the execution of Alice about
to take place, or are we witnessing a suicide mission a split second before
its completion? Chagoya is interested in the similarities and differences
between the secular imagination and fundamentalism in the real world, and
a possible truce between the two.
-
- Untitled (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), 2004
- Sin título (Blancanieves y los siete enanitos)
- Charcoal and pastel on paper on canvas
- Private collection
-
- President George W. Bush, his first cabinet, an ally, and an enemy
assume their perfectly typecast and miscast roles (by casting director
Enrique Chagoya) as the fairy-tale characters in Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs. Front row (left to right): Secretary of State Colin Powell
as Doc, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz as Bashful, Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as Grumpy, National Security Advisor Condoleezza
Rice as Snow White, Vice President Dick Cheney as Happy, Attorney General
John Ashcroft as Sneezy, and Director of the CIA George Tenet as Sleepy.
Back row (left to right): Militant Islamist and founder of al-Qaeda Osama
bin Laden as the Witch, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair
as the Prince, and President George W. Bush as Dopey. These characters
are hardly "snow white," clearly smudged with the blood of war.
-
- Untitled (The Burden of Freedom), 2006
- Sin título (El peso de la libertad)
- Charcoal and pastel on paper mounted on canvas
- Courtesy of the artist, George Adams Gallery, and Gallery Paule Anglim
-
- In an absurd composition, Chagoya creates a truly unique pas de
trois of culturally diverse leaders-Mohammed, the founder of Islam;
Jesus Christ, the central figure of Christianity; and Arnold Schwarzenegger,
the Governor of California. Chagoya found inspiration for the image from
Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2004 statement in which he called his Democratic
opponents "girlie-men." The artist humorously considers the comment
as a positive one if the term "girlie-men" means "pacifists,"
so he depicts them as dainty ballerinas. Chagoya appropriated the image
of the three dancers from a recent editorial cartoon of men in tutus performing
for the Brazilian president. On the right, Chagoya adds a more iconic ballerina
image from the history of art-Edgar Degas' The Little Fourteen-Year-Old
Dancer (ca. 187980). Ironically, as the story goes, the young
model for this work was forced into prostitution by her mother.
-
- Hand of Power, 1993
- La mano poderosa
- Oil on tin with galvanized steel frame
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Gallery Paule Anglim and
Enrique Chagoya
-
- Hand of Power addresses the contemporary topics of cultural
and corporate capitalism through the traditional form of Mexican retablos-personal
or private devotional paintings on tin intended for domestic use. Typically
small in scale, these votive paintings depict Jesus Christ, the Virgin
Mary, or a saint. Painted on tin but reimagined on a monumental scale,
Chagoya's Hand of Power glorifies the three-fingered, gloved hand
of Mickey Mouse and minimizes the hand of Christ. A bleeding heart at the
site of his crucifixion wound floods the landscape. From the palm of Mickey's
hand, a fountain of oil arcs from a well. In place of the flames of religious
fervor that emanate from Christ's fingers, Mickey's spring forth a stealth
bomber, a Picasso painting, a gold brick, and a television broadcasting
the red and white stripes of the United States flag.
-
- Crossing I, 1994
- El cruce I
- Acrylic and oil on paper
- Collection of Julia and Thomas Lanigan, Upper Montclair, New Jersey
-
- In this collision of cultures, Superman tears off his civilian Pilgrim
garb to face off with a threatening-looking Tlaloc, the Aztec god of fertility
and rain. Poised to throw his thunderbolt weapon, Tlaloc is backed up by
the Aztec god of life and death (one of Quetzacóatl's representations)
in a flying saucer. With the spaceship, Chagoya makes a pun about aliens-the
extra-terrestrial sort versus the illegal kind. Chagoya points out that
the Pilgrims were actually some of the first illegal aliens, who invaded
and ultimately seized the land from the Native Americans.
-
- Crossing II, 1994
- El cruce II
- Acrylic and oil on paper
- Collection of Jack Kubiliun, New York
-
- Crossing II depicts the invasion of Insula Canibalum-Cannibal
Island-with the indigenous savages (including the ponytailed Chagoya on
the shoreline at the bottom) under attack by the civilized United Nations.
In an orderly fashion, the U.N. arrives at their shores with a battleship,
aircraft carrier, fighter jet, and stealth bomber. The cannibals, although
great in number, are no match with their paddle canoes and rudimentary
weapons-knives, clubs, and bows and arrows. With cannibals at work dismembering
bodies in the lower left, Chagoya asks who or what defines savagery. Is
killing by bomb or missile any different from the arrow or knife? Who has
the right to judge or change the traditions of another culture? Which are
the cannibals?
-
- The Governor's Nightmare, 1994
- La pesadilla del gobernador
- Acrylic and oil on amate paper
- Private collection
-
- Chagoya combines elements of Mesoamerican culture and contemporary
politics in The Governor's Nightmare. Dismembered and disemboweled,
former California Governor Pete Wilson's bloody organs are enthusiastically
consumed by stereotyped Aztec cannibals. This horrific vision fits the
bill as the worst nightmare of the reputed xenophobe and anti-immigrationist.
Leading the ritualistic feast and perched on a stepped pyramid, Mictlantecutli-the
Aztec god of death-sprinkles salt onto a panicking Mickey Mouse, bound
and plated with a chili pepper garnish. Chagoya thematically connects the
cannibal scene to Juan Correa's colonial period painting Allegory of
the Sacrament (1690) in the upper left, in which the lambs of God drink
Christ's blood-flowing from his chest-from a bishop's plate. The consumption
of the body and blood of Christ at the Eucharist parallels this Aztec counterpart.
-
- Hands, 1994
- Manos
- Acrylic and oil on amate paper
- Collection of John M. Sanger, San Francisco
-
- Hands features numerous variations of the body part from different
cultural sources. Within the head, Chagoya appropriates a horrific image
of Christopher Columbus's men hacking off the hands of Haitian natives.
Columbus, desperate to deliver on his promise to investors to fill his
ships with gold, demanded Arawak males over the age of thirteen to meet
a gold quota or have their hands cut off and bleed to death. Other hands
include the white-gloved hand of Mickey Mouse, the flayed hands of Aztec
god Xipe Totec, the bleeding hand of Christ from a colonial-era painting,
and the nine-fingered hand that alludes to a menorah representing the Jews
that were expelled from Spain in 1492.
-
- Promesa, 1994
- Promise
- Oil on canvas
- Collection Palm Springs Art Museum, purchase with funds provided by
the Contemporary Art Council, 1997
- This painting was inspired by the execution of indigenous leaders who
refused to convert to Christianity by Spanish conquistadors during the
conquest of Mexico. It questions the use of religion as a way to justify
genocide. The drawing on the right panel depicts a mass hanging of those
leaders and was painted by an anonymous indigenous artist of that era.
On the left, the crawling Christ with a bloody back is drawn from a Mexican
baroque painting. Christ draws on a blackboard an image from the catechisms
originally done by another indigenous artist after the conquest. The phrase,
"I promise not to try to save the world again," is barely legible
beneath the chalk drawing. The text along the lower border reads, "The
Lord of promises and the sorrows of Hell."
-
- Xenophobic Nightmare in a Foreign Language, 1994
- La pesadilla xenofóbica en un idioma extranjero
- Acrylic on amate paper
- Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Anonymous gift, 2007.8
-
- The three-part portrait depicts reputed xenophobe Pete Wilson-the former
California Governor known for his anti-immigration stance-witnessing his
own dismemberment at the hands of ancient Aztec cannibals, who cook his
parts in a giant stewpot. Across the image in Afrikaans, the foreign words
read "I want to wake up now." Chagoya's choice of language suggests
that Wilson's treatment of Mexican immigrants parallels South African apartheid,
which was in the news and being overturned when Chagoya painted this work.
Rendered on amate paper-pounded fig bark-this traditional material used
in codex books by pre-Columbian cultures speaks to the complex history
of Chagoya and his native Mexico.
-
- Hidden Memories at Giverny, 1995
- Los recuerdos escondidos en Giverny
- Acrylic and oil on amate paper
- Collection of Mikki and Stanley Weithorn
-
- Created during a residency at the Fondation Claude Monet in Giverny,
this painting quotes a number of French art historical masterpieces-Monet's
series of paintings of the Japanese bridge and his water lilies as well
as Edouard Manet's The Execution of Maximilian (1868). The text
Des souvenirs caches-"hidden memories" in French-crosses
the composition and may refer to the white patched area and ghost images
of a large eagle and a broken and bleeding tree. Like the ancient Aztec
codices, imagery often "bleeds" through the amate and become
visible on the reverse side. The Belgian comic strip character Tin-Tin,
a great adventurer, could represent the artist's own French adventure if
not for creator Hergé's racist views. Instead, the juxtaposition
of Tin-Tin and the haloed La Virgen creates an opposition of positive
and negative symbols. The system of balance regularly employed by Chagoya
derives from Aztec culture, and is echoed in the red and black horizontal
bar along the bottom of the work.
-
- Le Cannibale Moderniste (The Modernist Cannibal), 1999
- El caníbal modernista
- Mixed media on paper on linen
- Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of NebraskaLincoln, UNLGift
of Alexander Liberman and Frances Sheldon by exchange
-
- Borrowing the same Claude Monet-inspired composition from Hidden
Memories at Giverny created four years prior, Chagoya painted Le
Cannibale Moderniste during a 1999 Paris residency. A less-than-welcoming
Parisian community influenced violent imagery. A female African savage
devours the bloody arm recently chopped off the striped-shirted Picasso,
who runs away. Chagoya clearly seeks retribution for the Modern artist's
"cannibalizing" African culture in his masterpiece Les Demoiselles
d'Avignon (1907), as Picasso strikes a pose of one of the figures from
the painting. To the right, the dark-spectacled, white-bearded Monet ponders
a work by Piet Mondrian (18721944), another master of Modern art.
Blood streams from his severed head, which quotes a painting of a levitating
decapitated head of Christ by French Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau (18261898).
-
- Arcadian State, 2006
- Estado arcádio
- Acrylic and water-based oil on canvas
- Collection of Merle Stalder, Salem, Nebraska
-
- George Caleb Bingham's Jolly Flatboatmen (1846) depicts a boisterous
group of Missouri River boatmen taking a break from their usual work hauling
freight to play music, dance, and relax. Chagoya replaces Bingham's nineteenth-century
group of all Caucasian men with a mix of ethnically diverse men and women
to better represent the multiplicity of the population in the United States
today. One man speaks the first line of a conceptual idea of German intellectual
Goethe (17491832) that Russian communist leader Lenin (18701924)
famously quoted. Another man completes the quote in thought but speaks
a befuddled "What the?" Chagoya mocks the inaccessibility of
abstract theory. The stereotyped head of a Mexican bandit tops the central
dancing figure, whose flayed body shows that everyone looks the same on
the inside. The title Arcadian State considers the original idyllic
setting of Bingham's painting while also celebrating a new vision for the
ideal-diversity-in contemporary America. IMAGE
-
- Liberty Club #1, 2006
- Club de la libertad 1
- Acrylic and water-based oil on canvas
- Courtesy of the artist, George Adams Gallery, and Gallery Paule Anglim
-
- On June 9, 2005, fourteen Cubans were intercepted at sea en route to
the United States in a vintage 1948 Mercury taxi converted to a boat. Four
of the group possessed valid immigration documents and stayed in the U.S.
and the other ten returned to Cuba. Chagoya's vision of their ocean adventure
features an enormous giant gray Hokusai-inspired wave about to devour the
blue taxi-boat, pointing to the personal danger people willingly risk in
pursuit of freedom.
-
- Illegal Alien's Guide to Existentialism or My Private Border Patrol,
2007
- Guía existencialista del extranjero ilegal o mi patrulla
fronteriza privada
- Acrylic, water-based oils, and pastel on canvas
- Grinnell College Art Collection; Marie-Louise and Samuel R. Rosenthal
Fund
-
- Concerned with the theme of life and death, the United States Border
Patrol officer and the dancing calavera-skeleton-queen are used
as metaphors that address the personal and the social concerns of the artist.
On a personal level, Chagoya's fear of death is exorcised by his personal
Border Patrol officer. Death seems to surrender but only in appearence.
She is empowered enough to dance and celebrate with champagne while temporarily
surrendering to the Border Patrol. In a social context, the fear of "aliens"
crossing the border is also a fear of death or the fear of the stereotypical
illegal alien destroying a given way of life. In the end, they are all
imagined fears since life and death are intertwined and people are the
same on both sides of any border.
-
- The Artist and His Bride, 1997
- El artista y su novia
- Painting on 19th-century print
- Collection of Kara Maria, San Francisco
-
- The Death of Columbus, 1997
- La muerte de Colón
- Painting on 19th-century print
- Collection of Anne Appleby
-
- Helene Fourment, Wife of Rubens, 1997
- Helene Fourment, esposa de Rubens
- Painting on 19th-century print
- Collection of Paule Anglim, San Francisco
-
- The Marriage of St. Catherine, 1997
- Los desposorios de Santa Catalina
- Painting on 19th-century print
- Collection of Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons, Wildwood, Missouri
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- The Prayer in the Forest, 1997
- La oración en el bosque
- Painting on 19th-century print
- Courtesy of the artist, George Adams Gallery, and Gallery Paule Anglim
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- La coqueta, 1998
- The Coquette
- Painting on 19th-century print
- Collection of Philip B. Berry, Houston, Texas
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- The Entry of Charles V into Antwerp, 2000
- La entrada de Carlos V a Amberes
- Painting on 19th-century print
- Courtesy of the artist, George Adams Gallery, and Gallery Paule Anglim
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- Gerome Visiting a Pupil's Studio, 2000
- Gérôme visitando al studio de un alumno
- Acrylic and water-based oil with solvent transfer on 19th-century print
- Collection of Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons, Wildwood, Missouri
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- Tales from the Conquest / Codex, 1992
- Historias de la conquista / códice
- Color Xerox transfer, lacquer, acrylic, and ink
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Accessions Committee Fund; gift
of Susan and Robert Green, Christine and Pierre Lamond, Madeleine H. Russell,
and Judy C. Webb
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- Chagoya created this first codex in 1992 to "celebrate" the
500-year anniversary of Christopher Columbus's "discovery" of
the New World through visions of ancient and contemporary conquests. Throughout
the panels, Mesoamerican cultures clash with American popular culture and
other Western influences. A monumental Mickey Mouse with a bodybuilder's
physique dwarfs and overpowers three Aztec warriors. Superman, Batman,
and Wonder Woman attack the dual Aztec god of death and life-Mictlantecuhtli
and Ehecatl-Quetzacoatl. In an image of resistance, unwelcome Spanish missionaries
appear with hatchets firmly wedged in skulls.
- The Organic Cannibal, 1996
- El caníbal orgánico
- Monoprint on amate paper
- Crocker Art Museum. Gift of Gallery Paule Anglim, 1999.3
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- Colonialism and conflicts of civilization versus barbarism assume the
main focus of The Organic Cannibal. The title page of the codex
features an upside-down portrait of Christopher Columbus being devoured
whole by a fanged cannibal. Chagoya seeks retribution for the deeds of
the explorer. Columbus ordered his men to cut off the hands of native Caribs
if they did not deliver enough gold to the explorer. They subsequently
bled to death. Throughout the images in the codex, Chagoya questions who
the actual barbarians are.
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- The Adventures of the Enlightened Cannibal, 2002
- Las aventuras del caníbal iluminado
- Transfer drawing, cut-and-pasted painted paper, ink, and synthetic
polymer paint on pieced amate paper
- The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Purchase, 2002
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- In this codex, Chagoya thematically addresses the Age of Enlightenment-the
eighteenth-century intellectual movement based on reason-and considers
the idea that everything outside of Greek culture qualified as barbarism.
On each panel, Chagoya cannibalizes the imagery, much of it religious or
multicultural in nature and critical of church and state. Saint Veronica,
who at Calvary wiped the face of Jesus Christ and her towel held his imprint,
holds up the relic that bears a stereotyped black face grinning from ear
to ear. Chagoya suggests that nothing is sacred or above criticism in this
complicated and hypocritical world filled with racism, pornography, and
religious zealotry, among other numerous issues.
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- Codex Cosmovisionarius, 2006
- Códice cosmovisionario
- Acrylic, water-based oil paint, pencil, solvent transfer, gesso, and
one 19th-century etching
- University of California, Berkeley Art Museum. Museum purchase: Bequest
of Thérèse Bonney, Class of 1916, by exchange.
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- Border issues and immigration assume central roles in this codex on
a global scale. Indigenous men climb over a mountain carrying Western couple
on chairs strapped to their backs. The text reads, "My country is
your country. Your country is yours too," indicating the one-way street
between the dominant and the subservient peoples. An armored knight swordfights
with a non-Western warrior whose only protection is a shield, while one
of Columbus's men holds a freshly severed hand of a Caribbean Indian. Chagoya
illustrates the inevitable power struggles when opposing cultures from
all over the world meet and clash.
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- Poor George (After Philip Guston) #2, 2004
- Pobre Jorge (recordando a Philip Guston) 2
- Ink on paper
- Hall Collection
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- The Reverend Billy Graham-an evangelist-has been the spiritual advisor
to many U.S. Presidents since 1950, beginning with Harry S. Truman. Graham
advised and became a very close friend of President Richard M. Nixon (Presidency
196974) until Watergate, when the two had a temporary fallout. The
two made amends after Nixon's resignation and Graham spoke at Nixon's funeral.
Guston's depiction of Bible-toting Nixon climbing the precarious-looking
holy mountain suggests a shaky foundation to his faith. The theatrical
curtain suggests that Nixon used Christianity for show.
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- Chagoya presents President George W. Bush in the same setting, seeking
The Reverend at the rocky mountain. Bush has openly recalled a life-changing
summer weekend in 1985, when Graham-a houseguest at the Bush vacation home
in Kennebunkport-met with Bush and helped him change his path. Bush credits
his time with the "messenger" as inspiration to quit drinking
alcohol and to pursue a more spiritual approach to life.
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- Poor George (After Philip Guston) #3, 2004
- Pobre Jorge (recordando a Philip Guston.) 3
- Ink on paper
- Collection of Alice Kosmin
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- Guston depicts President Nixon smiling for the camera with a baby in
his arms, a typical photo-op scenario for a running politician. However,
the little black girl perched on his arm is a racial stereotype with wide
eyes, full lips, and braided hair. Guston suggests the insincerity of Nixon's
interests as he simply seeks the black vote.
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- A smiling George W. Bush doesn't pose for the camera with a black baby,
but with Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State at the time, but now National
Security Advisor. Chagoya suggests that Bush's administration need not
participate in cheap publicity stunts when he fulfills the task with colleagues
in his administration. The scowling Condi doesn't seem to like it. IMAGE
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- Poor George (After Philip Guston) #4, 2004
- Pobre Jorge (recordando a Philip Guston) 4
- Ink on paper
- Collection of Alice Kosmin
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- Guston draws Vice President Spiro Agnew looking into the empty head
(and body) of President Richard Nixon. Their cone-headed suits suggest
Klan outfits and the flipped-back tops resemble toilet seat lids, together
alluding to the "content" of their public discourse. Chagoya
makes a similar charge with Vice President Dick Cheney examining President
George W. Bush.
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- Poor George (After Philip Guston) #5, 2004
- Pobre Jorge (recordando a Philip Guston) 5
- Ink on paper
- Hall Collection
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- President Nixon's "Journey for Peace" sought to develop a
peaceful relationship with communist China. His efforts culminated in a
visit to the country in 1972. Guston depicts a mock version of Nixon's
"journey" in a convertible with Nixon at the steering wheel accompanied
by Vice President Agnew and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger,
represented solely by his trademark thick-rimmed glasses. A gigantic claw
of a Chinese dragon threatens the oblivious trio.
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- Chagoya finds a perfect parallel in President Bush's "road map
for peace," a plan to resolve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in
the Middle East. Bush's road trip includes Vice President Cheney and again
Henry Kissinger, perhaps for his brief appointment by Bush to serve as
chair of a committee in 2002 to investigate the events of the September
11th attacks. The same ominous claw looms large above the group.
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- Poor George (After Philip Guston) #7, 2004
- Pobre Jorge (recordando a Philip Guston) 7
- Ink on paper
- Collection of David and Deborah Bernstein
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- Guston's opening image for "Poor Richard" announces the title
on an airplane banner cruising along a beach shoreline that includes the
narrative series' main characters. From left to right, the artist depicts
Checkers the spaniel standing on top of the reclining Richard Nixon, the
coneheaded Vice President Spiro Agnew with a pronounced nose, Attorney
General John Mitchell smoking a pipe, and National Security Advisor Henry
Kissinger, represented by his well-known, thick-rimmed glasses. Completely
disengaged with each other, the individuals sit on the beach in Key Biscayne,
the President's Florida island retreat.
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- Chagoya replaces Nixon's administration with President Bush's group:
Barney the Scottish terrier, Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, then National
Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and then Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld, represented by a pair of round wire-rimmed glasses framing squinting
eyes. They lounge by a red sea, perhaps the Red Sea in the Middle East,
given the spouting oil wells in the background that have replaced Guston's
palm trees. The oil wells may also refer to Bush's earlier career as a
West Texas oilman and the buyout that made him a millionaire, hence the
banner that reads "Rich W."
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- Poor George (After Philip Guston) #9, 2004
- Pobre Jorge (recordando a Philip Guston) 9
- Ink on paper
- Courtesy of the artist, George Adams Gallery, and Gallery Paule Anglim
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- Guston shows a disingenuous President Nixon courting votes from another
underpowered target group-the aged. He stiffly holds out his own parents
as examples, suggesting the "mom and pop" types he pursues. Chagoya
does the same with President Bush, who holds out the familiar images of
his now retired parents, George H.W. and Barbara, who wears her signature
pearls. IMAGE
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