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In 1969, Chicano activists gathered in Colorado and drafted
the Program for El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, which
calls on all Chicanos to mobilize and organize in support
of their cultural, social, economic and political independence.
With this, the 6th annual Chicano art exhibit, the dA
invites us to witness some of the art from that continuing
movement that is rooted both in the mythical Aztec Promised
Land of North America and in the desire to join together
Latinos from all countries in the idea that all peoples
should live in equality and freedom. Curated by Frank
Garcia and Rolo Castillo, the exhibit runs the gamut from
flashy Latino pop culture represented by the fiberglass
backend of a lowrider to Dan Romero’s exquisite
rusted metal sculptures made from farming equipment that
remind us of the land worker. There’s a healthy
helping of mythology, as well, with dancing skeletons
and symbolically exposed organs—most effectively
presented in Oscar Magallenes’ stencil on wood Semillas,
in which a skeletal fetus serves as an underground seed
and sprouts a corn stock from its chest. Crossing into
other Latino cultures is what it’s all about, of
course, and Andrew Quinones’ Peru Through My Soul
guidebook newsprint canvas topped with abstractions in
green and black paint is a vibrant divergence from some
of the more fiesta-inspired pieces. And you certainly
can’t miss the life-sized George W. Bush riding
a child’s coin-operated pony machine—galloping
off, no doubt, to some fantasy Texas town where Chicanos
actually like him.
“Hands Across Aztlan” at dA Center for the
Arts, 252 S. Main St., Pomona, (909) 397-9716; www.dacenter.org.
Wed-Sat, noon-4PM; Thurs, noon-9PM. Thru Nov. 27.
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