10 Dec Chicanitas in Monterey
My art exhibition, “Chicanitas, Small Paintings from the Cheech Marin Collection,” toured the country to 16 museums during 2011 through 2017. When it was on view at the Museum of Monterey, I did an interview with the Monterey Herald, which was published December 9, 2011:
Q: What is it about Chicano art that speaks to you?
A: It speaks of the community. What I’ve found after awhile was that Chicano art wasn’t necessarily defined by any particular painting style. What it was defined by was an experience of being Chicano, from a myriad of different view points. Whether it was religious, gender based, historical based, religious based or abstract even. When you put all these pieces together, you get the whole 360 of what the essence of what the Chicano experience is.
Q: This exhibit features some newer artists. Talk about them.
A: The established artists have been around for a while and earned some recognition. But the newer artists, I was fortunate enough to discover them because of my travels. Ricardo Ruiz from Corpus Christi. There’s Carlos San Juan of Dallas. There’s this guy Work from El Paso. It’s all coming out of Texas. We’re just trying to give them recognition.
Q: Talk about the name “Chicanitas.”
A: I was going to call it Chicanitos, but then all the women started saying, “Hey, what about us!” I’m like, “Here’s your show, shut up! Now give me a beer.” (Laughs.)