Chicano Pop-ism

Mario Ayala, Sign Language, 2019. Private collection

Beginning a national tour at the Cheech Marin Center, Riverside, "Xican-a.o.x. Body" is a wide-ranging survey centering on Xicanisma, a Chicana/o/x zeitgeist with emphasis on feminist and queer currents. For me the first room offered the greatest surprise, changing the perception of everything that came after. It explores the relationship of Chicano art to Pop art. 

Huh? Both had their roots in the 1960s youth protests of capitalism, consumerism, and militarism. Emerging Chicano artists were aware of Pop and often took it as a jumping off point. Ester Hernández's Sun Mad poster was one of the first Chicana artworks to be shown in major museums—albeit in MoMA-inspired installations of prints as a modern medium. I've never thought of Sun Mad as Pop, for one thing because museums don't show it alongside Warhols and Lichtensteins. Pop art's critique is cool and deadpan. The joke of Sun Mad is more Mad magazine or meme. But the flat depiction of something you'd find in a supermarket is definitely a parallel.

Ester Hernández, Sun Mad III, 1981. Courtesy of the artist

Luis Jiménez, Tank-Spirit of Chicago, 1968. Courtesy of McClain Gallery, Houston

The same room has several Pop-inspired artists who merit more attention. Luis Jiménez's Tank Spirit of Chicago was made the bloody year after the Summer of Love. Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis and freaks rioted at the Democratic National convention in Chicago. Jiménez conjoins ecstatic brown bodies with a super-hot-dog bun holding five franks. It's like an Oldenberg soft sculpture, only it's hard fiberglass, a medium associated with L.A. Finish Fetish.

Mel Casas, Humanscape 69 (Circle of Decency), 1973. Mel Casa Family Trust

Texas artist Mel Casas' satirical paintings received national attention (the 1975 Whitney Biennial), then were all but forgotten. Humanscape 69 (Circle of Decency) conjoins two pop icons of So. Cal., Richard Nixon and Mickey Mouse. 

Patrick Martinez, Vintage Throwback Po-Lice, 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Charlie James Gallery

The exhibition quickly seques to the 21st century, but echos of Pop can be found throughout. Mario Alaya's Sign Language (top of post) plays some of the visual games that James Rosenquist did. Patrick Martinez's paintings of Pee Chee folders valorize a consumer product while critiquing the society that produced them. Vintage Throwback Po-lice references the 1970 murder of L.A. Times journalist Ruben Salazar and the 1991 police beating of Rodney King.

Alfonso Gonzalez Jr., Bling Nails on Cesar Chavez Ave, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Matthew Brown Gallery

rafa esparza, Corpo RanfLA: Terra Cruiser, 2022–23. Photograph by Fabian Guerrero

rafa esparza, otherwise known as a painter, transformed himself into a futuristic lowrider bicycle for a 2022 happening in Miami Beach.

In all "Xican-a.o.x. Body" is a capsule survey of Chicano art, with 70 artists ranging from Asco to Vaginal Davis. It's a  complement to the Marin collection's more populist, painting-heavy selection. "Xican-a.o.x. Body" runs at the Cheech though Jan. 7, 2024.