About three weeks ago I attended the opening of an exhibit at ASU to learn about yet other artists I was unfamiliar with and was curious to know more about. In this instance, I got to acquaint myself first off with a creation by Carmen Lomas Garza and it was encouraging to see there was a large turnout for the opening of her exhibit. The most striking of her creations is a lithograph titled “Poverty — The Bitch Among Our People” (1970) shown below.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This struck me as very haunting and reminded me of a Holocaust image for the gaunt and tortured subject matter. Garza’s depiction, though, is a harsh image of poverty among Mexican-American communities which the accompanying plaque describes below. Once seen, this image is not easily forgotten.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Carmen Mora Garza is a Chicana artist and illustrator whose many works are inspired by her Mexican-American Heritage growing up in South Texas. Many of her works are part of permanent museum collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Museum Of Mexican Art. Many of her numerous paintings are happy, nostalgic depictions of Mexican-American home life and extended family and other community socializing. For more information about Garza’s life and art, check out this site: http://carmenlomasgarza.com
Another artist I checked during the spring exhibit opening was Cruz Ortiz. He is a contemporary American artist who creates in a wide variety of mediums including screen prints, abstract portraits, landscape paintings, and multimedia sculpture. Pictured below is one of his absorbing woodblock prints called “Summer Nite Star Dream” (2019)
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
When viewing this I immediately thought of the desert at night for its vast mystery
and the pricklings of fear that can arise because in the dark is when it really comes alive and all nocturnal creatures are on the prowl, but largely unseen! My feelings on “Summer Nite Star Dream”are in direct contrast to how his website describes much of his works as “…examining connections to nature, hope, healing, beauty, endurance, and the cosmos.” Then again, as I’ve stated more than once — everyone has their own feelings and interpretations of an artist’s output.
While I think of “Summer Nite” as fascinating, but not necessarily for hope or healing. It grabbed me more for what appears to be Ortiz’s vision of how awe inspiring and vast the desert is (especially at night) but also somehow impenetrable and overwhelming. Even at that, the desert is still merely one component within the infinity of the cosmos, and making human concerns and (especially mortality) insignificant within this realm. Of course, “Summer Nite” is one small sampling of Ortiz’s works, and like Carmen Lomas Garza is a native Texan and I will be exploring artists further with this background for possible future posts. For more info about the life and art of Cruz Ortiz check out this site: www.cruzortizart.net
I’m not sure who created the next one, but it is a clever image of defiance. A cactus in the likeness of the Statue Of Liberty rising over oppression by climbing over the border wall. Definitely a lightening rod for controversy, but then again, what isn’t anymore?
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Now, for my final image in this post also did not mention who created it, but the point could hardly be more clear. If AI really does take over the lion’s share of the jobs then we know who had the money and power to create it.
