Constance Cortez’s book Carmen Lomas Garza examines the life and the artworks of Carmen Lomas Garza. Garza was raised in South Texas and was the child of five. Her parents were involved with the community especially with the Latino veterans. Garza’s mother inspired her to become an artist because her mother also painted. The inspirations of Garza’s works are of her everyday life and of her community. Within her painting, the audience gets a feel of what it was like to grow-up or be a part of the artist’s life. The artist’s images speak of memory and of hope. She is considered a folk Chicana artist and is widely celebrated as one of the best known Chicana artists. Garza’s images incorporate religion, tradition, and political struggle in the …show more content…
The chapter illustrates how the artist incorporates ideas within her art that reveal aspects about dreaming. The image I have selected is Hammerhead Shark on Padre Island, 1987. The medium of this painting is oil on canvas, it is 36x48 inches in size. Within this painting, the view is of a beach, where most of the community is enjoying a day at the beach but they have encountered a bleeding almost dead shark on the sands of the beach. They imagery shows how that the most familiar areas aren’t free of endangerment. As Constance Cortez states “Here as in many of Garza’s works, the lesson is embedded in the imagery: there are sharks everywhere, even in the places we play”. This contributes to life lessons children will one day come to understand and it gives a realistic view of reality. This image ties in with this chapter because although we dream of a future, we must face the difficulties or realities of our daily lives. As Garza states “To dream is risk” this means that there’s uncertainly to life we also see this in the image of Cama para Sueños, although the mother is making the beds for her children as a sign for nurturance and safety, her daughters are laying on the rooftop. The imagery is clear with the message that is being conveyed, the risk of dreaming is valuable once we have achieved
Referred to as “the best representative of the Mexican sculptural movement at the time” by Diego Rivera, I chose to do my research on Guatemalan painter and sculptor Rafael Yela Günther. I am attracted to his work because long before I knew who he was I saw some of his sculptures personally in Guatemala and I was truly impressed. Naturally my interest to know more about his artwork grew when I learned that Rivera had some influence on him during their time working together in Teotihuacan. Rafael Yela Günther was born on September 18, 1888 in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.
Today, when one turns on the radio, Pandora, or any type music streaming company, we will most likely hear artists singing songs that do not sound like their ‘usual sound.’ Today they are known as crossover artists, and some of the most widely know to this day are Taylor Swift from country to pop, Enrique Iglesias and Gloria Estefan both coming from Latin fan bases to the American pop culture. Latin artists almost always start off with fan base in Spanish speaking countries, but once they are able to crossover into the American mainstream music it is a completely different story, it leads to instant fame. They are recognized around the world, even if it is for one hit. Yet this is where most Latin artists struggle, because in order to become more popular they need to break the barrier between
• African Americans – The cultural transition from the 1970-1960 promoting African Americans literature, was also a musical and vocal movement for a culture coming of age after the liberation of slavery. The fierce anxiety of post-Civil War racism created a “voice” through artistic creativity, making a deliberate statement of the status of America through African American eyes. The timelines show artist telling a story of character and circumstance. • Asian Americans – The timelines showed advancement in music, literature and theatrical fields. They also showed more popularity of this sub-culture during the last fifty years.
The Virgin of Guadalupe is a worldly known work of art; Jeanette Favrot Peterson questions the meaning of this iconic symbol in her article The Virgin of Guadalupe: Symbol of Conquest or Liberation? Peterson argues that this symbol is not only of religious connotation but of political value to freedom as well. Furthermore, paraphrasing her claims, that it was not until the nineteenth and twentieth century’s did the image reach its fullest potential of bringing together a fragmented people and become known as the “Mother of Mexicans.” The legend says that Juan Diego was visited by the Virgin on the hill of Tepeyacac and that she sent a message with him that she wanted a church built in her name, only after the third visit was he able to convince
The painting ‘Terciopelo’ is a typical example of Fabian Perez’s work as the subject, like many of his other paintings, is a dancer featured on a dark background. The subject will be significant to Perez as it is a memory from his childhood, therefore making it a relic. This makes the painting particularly interesting as most people cannot relate to having this as a childhood memory, it also means we are seeing an ‘adult’ subject from a child’s point of view. In
She was truly an inspiration for art. Art critics had called her “one of the most individual and extraordinary painters of Mexican art”. A book was even written to honor her work. The book was titled Obras de Remedios Varo. Remedios Varo and her ‘surrealist’ artwork had a major influence on generations of artists.
I see a peaceful, slightly uncomfortable, but enjoyable sail in beautiful clear water. Dorothy Allison implies that everyone sees something different in a painting and that “if we were to reveal what we see in each painting, sculpture, installation, or little book, we would run the risk of exposing our secret selves” (595). My “secret self” is one that lived on a boat in the crystal clear water of the Caribbean and sailed on the open ocean and stared at the waves when there was no one else around. Because of that I see this painting as a peaceful experience instead of one in rough sickening
Dodging Mother Nature’s malevolently behaved elements during efforts to reach land, the boat is represented as the symbol of life in the piece. The story reads, “The boat was much like an animal. As each wave came, and she rose for it, she seemed like a horse leaping over a high fence. The manner of her ride over these walls of water is a thing of mystery.” This description gives the boat an animalistic “character” (Crane 2).
Furthermore, Rivera influenced the techniques, concepts and contents of Frida's paintings by encouraging her to paint in a different style, portraying her Amerindian Roots (Herrera, Frida: A biography). There is a severe transition visible to us, there is a change in colors, and background in her paintings, for example her first self portrait, painted in the renessaincdé style, compared to her self portrait name “Time Flies” in which she is wearing mexican traditional clothing and amerindian jewellery. Rivera influenced her in a way in which she embraced the mexican heritage and
Amongst the world of misrepresentation, cultural identity, strong political beliefs, the tragedy of war and many more there are 2 excellent artists that arise. Vincent Namatjira and Pablo Picasso are both perfect representations of this. When artistic representation and depictions are presented, we should paint not what is on the face, but what is behind it. To begin with, a clear depiction of painting behind the face is the world renowned painting by Pablo Picasso, ‘The Weeping Woman.’ By using distortion and his own political ideologies, Picasso creates a powerful and shocking painting of his long-time lover and friend, Dora Maar.
In the altar’s center is “a plaster image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, quarter-life size, its brown Indian face staring down on the woman” (Paredes 23). The implication of the stare is of criticism as the Virgin, symbolic of an ideal Mexican womanhood, looks down on Marcela, whose Anglo features starkly contrast with the Virgin’s, and whose actions are in opposition to the values that she represents. This carefully constructed scene is meaningful. Marcela’s lifeless body lies between the bed and the altar, and opposite to the altar is Marcela’s shrine dedicated to Hollywood movie stars. These are the visual images of the opposing forces that characterize the Mexican-American struggle for resistance against American cultural hegemony.
During the Chicano Nationalist Movement, a well-known speaker, Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzales, delivered a speech titled Chicano Nationalism: Victory for La Raza. In this speech, Rodolfo Gonzales tries to unify the Latin American people within the United States by using the idea of a family and to create a new political organization for the Chicano people. This speech was a cumulation of various ideas which stemmed from his own life, the experiences of the Chicano people, and the Chicano Nationalist Movement in general. Each of these factors contributed to the context of the speech and how the ideas within the speech are presented by Rodolfo Gonzales. Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzales was born to Federico and Indalesia Gonzales, two Mexican immigrants, on June 18, 1928.
The Power of Hope Gary Soto brings the impoverished, crime filled streets of the Mexican-American communities where he grew up to life by “evoking the harsh forces that often shape the life for Chicanos” (“‘Gary Soto’: Poetry Foundation” p. 1). He combines an archetypal young love poem with the concept of poverty to create the powerful poem: “Oranges” (1985). Soto also works with the notion of old age and the importance of life in his somber poem: “The Seventieth Year” (1986).
Known for his defining role in the Mexican Mural Movement, Diego Rivera sought to create paintings that depicted the Mexican renaissance and socialist ideas of Mexican politics. After some time studying in Europe, Rivera was influenced by Italian renaissance artist Giotto to paint using fresco techniques (famsf.org). “Two Women and a Child” serves as an example of the theme he portrays in many of his paintings. While the fresco technique was predominantly used during the Italian renaissance, Rivera revitalized this ideal by including it in his painting of “Two Women and a Child”. Rivera’s use of techniques in Two Woman and a Child provide viewers with an understanding of the strength, pride, and perseverance Mexico had during the Mexican Renaissance.
For instance, the item at top left shows the anatomy and the complexity of being pregnant (Self Portrait as a Tehuana, Autorretrato como Tenhuana, Frida). The baby boy in the middle of the painting symbolizes the baby Deigo she thought she would never have (Self Portrait as a Tehuana, Autorretrato como Tenhuana, Frida). The snail shows how slow and agonizing the miscarriage was (Self Portrait as a Tehuana, Autorretrato como Tenhuana, Frida). The machine in the bottom left was used to symbolize the cold machines they used on her at the hospital (Self Portrait as a Tehuana, Autorretrato como Tenhuana, Frida).