Lana Meador, curator: “Despite the current political situation, Latin art is still essential” Entertainment in the United States
All year exhibition Lovers and Warriors: Impressions of Latin Artists The Museum of Contemporary Art San Antonio (Texas) has shown the importance of impressions as an artistic forms of social terminration and activism, and how its importance persists in the current sociopolitical context. The ability to create more copies and access to the art of a wide audience influenced the history of Latin art in the United States.
The exhibition, which can be visited by April 20 in the Golden Gallery of the Museum, collects the impressions of prominent Latin artists, including Richard Dardo, Amalia, Frank Romero, Delilah Montoya, Luis Jiménez and Vincent Valdez. A video conferential from San Antonia Texas, Lana Meador, curator of the exhibition, explains how artists use print format as a form of protest and resistance, honor various cultural and working leaders such as Malcolm X and Gloria Anzaldúa.
Ask. How did the theme of the exhibition appeared Lovers and warriors (lovers and warriors)?
Response. When we began to look into our collection of impressions that include lithography, engravings, serigration and giclée, we realized that the problems that prevailed concerned affects and fighting. These are the main problems for which people are enthusiastic are part of their cultural heritage. These are a bit of sensational problems, stereotypes of passionate culture, but the intention of the exhibition goes beyond: clarifying what it means to love something or someone, which is currently gaining new meanings related to gender problems, desire and identity. Also, explore what it means that fighting and persisted, which is a problem that still wins today. The idea is that people who look at the exhibition can think a deeper way of these issues.
P. Why are exhibitions currently relevant latin art exhibitions?
R. In order to start, we had a very huge and rich collection of Latin artistic impression, which we wanted to visible. In fact, the exhibition will pay a year and during that time we were able to perform four rotations to show different works and reveal more artists. But above all, this exhibition is written in the tradition of what art can do for social changes, which is essential in this political context.
P. How do Latin impressions affect social change throughout history?
R. There are many cases. For example, A popular graphic workshop, based in Mexico at the age of 30, used the impression to defend social change. During the 60s and 70 years. And even if lOvers & Fighters: printing Latino artists in the collection Sam It does not include the works of this period, the beverage of its inheritance and a more graphic and attractive visual language that gives these struggles voice. The strength of impressions is still alive, allowing art to be accessible to more people and distributed wider.
P. What pieces would you highlight at the exhibition?
R. The impression that Amalia Mesa-Bains specially created for the museum and which later gave us and that was the perfect complement to the fourth rotary round of the exhibition. It is an offer inspired by Emma Tenayuc’s photograph, an activist who became famous in the 1930s to lead the NUTS strike in 1938 in San Antonio. There are many archival photographs of her published in the newspaper of that time, especially after being arrested for protests and table-baains used one of them as a real element to inspire her piece, as usual in his work.
P. There are many works that condemn violence against immigrants
R. Yes. For example, a piece of Fernando Andrade, an artist based in San Antonio, in which a tree branch crossed with a text that says: 2 Shots, 10 strokesReferring to violence against the borders, a very contemporary reality during his childhood. The idea it evokes is how the branch of the tree, the tree used to play, becomes a representation of a weapon. Or, with Vincent Valdez’s lithography, belonging to the best American series in which the boxer dressed in the outbuilding of the indigenous Americans and his body seems to appear in our country, and his body appears in our country.
P. Do you think the work of Latin artists depicts the current sociopolitical context?
R. Definitely not for us or our museum. Latin art is an essential part of our collection. San Antonio is mostly Hispanic, with 64% Latin population, so we want our collection to reflect our community.
P. However, capital that does not have to arrive is required to create inclusive and fair collections. How will they face this possible obstacle?
R. The current environment affects budgets, and therefore I believe that the gifts of works of art are essential. In our case, we have donors like Ricardo Romo and Harriet Kelley, whose donation of the impressions of Latin artists was truly transformative for the museum.
