Category Archives: Art

by victoriadelgadillo

Centennial: 100 Years of Otis College Alumni

[NOTE: Victoria Delgadillo is not a graduate of Otis College, but her collaborative film project with Raul Baltazar called “Califas” was screened as part of this exhibit celebration.]

September 7 to December 7, 2019. Celebrating Otis College’s one hundredth year, Centennial is a group exhibition of selected works by notable alumni spanning the 1920s to the 2010s. Centennial offers a glimpse into both the range of artists who attended Otis College, as well as work that has come to represent a specific historical moment, focus, and aesthetic engagement. While the exhibition brings together artists working within diverse histories, places, and experiences, each work has a relationship to the present. Centennial is a nod to artistic process, as well as the 100 years of artists’ work sharing space in the Ben Maltz Gallery.

Alumni artists in the exhibition include the following: Bas Jan Ader, Mary Sue Ader Anderson, Kelly Akashi, Michelle Andrade, John Baldessari (in collaboration with Meg Cranston), Raul Baltazar, Billy Al Bengston, George Chann, Katy Cowan, Kohshin Finley, Kim Fisher, Teresa Flores , Kristen Foster, Gajin Fujita, Kio Griffith, Judithe Hernandez, Dakota Higgins, Noah Humes, Sara Hunsucker, Lorenzo Hurtado Segovia, Dorothy Jeakins , Joseph Mugnaini, Sandeep Mukherjee, Alan Nakagawa, Ruben Ochoa, Rick Owens, The Perez Bros, Kour Pour, Ken Price, Pamela Ramos, Vincent Ramos, Steve Roden, Alison Saar, Forouzan Safari, Eduardo Sarabia, JT Steiny, Masami Teraoka, Daveion Thompson, Kent Twitchell, Jeffrey Vallance, Mark Dean Veca, Tyrus Wong, John Weston, Bruce Yonemoto, Liz Young, Milford Zornes.

Library of Congress

In 2007, Georgia Fee and Catherine Ruggles launched what would become a twelve-year commitment to emerging artists, arts writers, and critics. Beginning in LA as a network for local artists, ArtSlant Magazine ultimately expanded to fifteen cities and countries around the world, bringing on board fresh writers, editors, and artists to critique, unpack, reflect on, and generally chronicle art and its engagement with contemporary culture. For nine years, ArtSlant also awarded the ArtSlant Prize, celebrating outstanding work from emerging artists. From 2013 to 2018, ArtSlant hosted a Residency for artists and writers in Paris, founded in honor of Georgia Fee following her passing in 2012.

Georgia Fee helped to advance many with her resources, building open pathways to success in an industry that can be hard to break into. ArtSlant Prize winners had their work evaluated by respected gallerists and curators, and exhibited at art fairs in Miami and New York City. Many have gone on to have major gallery representation and exhibit their artwork widely. Likewise, countless writers cut their teeth in this small company to go on to edit and write for mainstream arts publications, a trajectory that made her very proud.

Archive and legacy

Now the good news! ArtSlant will live on as a resource in the digital archives of the Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress welcomes ArtSlant as important part of [its web archive] collection and the historical record. Initially, the ArtSlant archive will be available to researchers at Library facilities and by special arrangement. After one year, the Library may also make the collection available more broadly by hosting it on its public access website. Learn more about the Library’s Web Archiving program goals here , this is where ArtSlant’s digital archive is stored click here and check out the other numerous web archives

Victoria Delgadillo

Victoria joined the ArtSlant project in 2008, where she maintained a profile page for 10 years. Below are her 34 art images (prints, film stills, multi-media paintings, digital posters, experimental material work, performance concept images, non-traditional sculptures, etching, pen & ink, photos, community project interventions, stickers) that will be inducted into the Library of Congress web digital archive in 2019.

by victoriadelgadillo

La Moda

La Moda was created for Caught Between A Whore and an Angel, a women’s performance exhibit at Regeneracion/The PRC in Highland Park.  La Moda (1996), shot on VHS with a separate cassette sound track was filmed in 1 hour, with the soundtrack taking 8 hours to construct to compliment the footage.

Mexican Spitfire, Victoria Delgadillo filmed La Moda in a straight shot, no edit format (mainly due to a lack of resources). Each time she began to shoot a segment, the borrowed camera rolled back the tape, sadly losing some of the action. The sound track was edited from music left-behind by friends except for The Last Poets on the closing credits. The sound became Victoria’s presence in the story line of a neighborhood cabaret-style beauty pageant.

La Moda was made in a Direct Cinema style, characterized by a desire to directly capture reality and represent it truthfully, and to question the relationship of reality with cinema. Captured were Marco Trejo’s (†) love of Elvis practicing karate (opening credits), Patricia Valencia dancing flirtatiously and kissing the camera (a huge hit at the premiere) and Elizabeth Delgadillo Merfeld wearing clothes with sales tags still on it, an early hip-hop fashion statement about the “haves and have nots.”

Victoria studied Video Filmmaking at UCSD, during the growth in popularity of the Cinema Verite and the early stages of the portable video camera. Drawing from personal experiences as a non-conformist artist, her artwork and ideas have been profoundly influenced by growing up in a predominately African-American neighborhood in San Diego, California during the civil rights era, as well as by a word-of-mouth Mexican cultural experience in America living on the international border.

View LA MODA here

by victoriadelgadillo

Entre Tinta y Lucha

Entre Tinta y Lucha
45 Years of Self Help Graphics & Art
January 31 – March 9, 2019
Exhibition opening January 31, 6-8pm

California State University, Bakersfield  – Todd Madigan Gallery
9001 Stockdale Highway
Bakersfield, CA  93311-1022

On January 31st, the Art & Art History Department will host a public opening reception for an art exhibit entitled Entre Tinta y Lucha: 45 Years of Self Help Graphics & Art at the Todd Madigan Gallery.

Delgadillo’s Print, Bolsa de Mercado, 2013 part of Entre La Tinta y la Lucha.

“CHICANO ART — During its 50 years of existence, Chicano art, always in transformation, has revolutionized itself into one of the main currents of the American creative canon. Based on four cultures-the pre-Columbian, the invading Hispanic, the Mexican and the American-Chicano art is inspired by these and develops from both its roots and the decades of oppression suffered by those who practice it and their families.

Since the violent confrontation in the streets during the 1970 Chicano Moratorium, Chicanos have progressed economically, socially and politically. Nonetheless, Chicanos and Latinos continue to be a marginalized group – foreigners – in their own home in the United States, and even in Mexico. This happens, even when the percentage of the Latino population in the main cities of the United States (such as Los Angeles, New York and Chicago) has grown tremendously, both in size and in political power.

Born in the mid-1960s, along with the protests of the Vietnam War and the Black Power movement for civil rights, the Chicano movement challenged the categorization and mocking stereotypes widely spread among the Anglo-Saxon population, as well as the public schools, plagued with desertion and proclaimations that they were too inferior to achieve a middle class standard of living.

These problems became the central themes of the first Chicano artists. The expressionist and frank realism of their works appealed to an art audience that had grown weary of the successive tendencies of the system established in unrepresentative paintings.

With highly developed skills and great originality, these artists of dual origin, Mexican and American, directed the eyes towards the Latin American culture, not only highlighting the conflicts with the Anglo-Saxon society, but also boasting, celebrating and elevating the elements of the Latin American culture and tradition, that the Anglo-Saxon world marginalized.

Both the advances and the difficulties of the last five decades have helped to shape the evolution of Chicano and Latino art. These artists expanded their creative expression and demonstrated great dexterity to develop and represent their mythologies, methodologies and philosophies. They introduced an outstanding and original school in the history of art.” – Julian Bermudez

by victoriadelgadillo

Glasgow Print Studio

Graphic Impact: Our Lives in Print Exhibition

Due to the Covid-19 this exhibition was forced to close prematurely in March, 2020. Graphic Impact: Our Lives in Print reopened August 4, 2020.

Graphic Impact: Our Lives in Print (featuring women in print), 2020.  Glasgow Print Studio in the UK was established as an artists’ workshop in 1972.  The Studio is now an internationally acclaimed centre of excellence in fine art printmaking, promoting contemporary and innovative printmaking. Victoria Delgadillo’s print made in 1996 is part of this studio’s collection which contains over 4,500 items made by Scottish and international artists and dating from the 1970s to the present day. These include fine art prints and related material (blocks, plates, stage proofs, preparatory material). Graphic Impact: Our Lives in Print is a two year project which began in April 2018. The project focuses on the early days of Glasgow Print Studio (1972- 1989), in particular the role of women who have contributed to the growth of the organization in a variety of ways. View Victoria’s print in this exhibit here

 

Victoria’s statement on this print for the Glasgow Print Studio Collection:

I am a Chicana artist that was born in Southern California,  USA, 1951. Self-identifying as a Chicana is a political stance, in that I am of Mexican descent, born in the United States, but I am not comfortable saying I am Mexican-American, the term that my government uses to identify someone like me.

At one point in the history of the conquest of the Americas, the area where I was born was Mexico. If you visit California, you will see that Mexico continues its presence here—in the names of the towns and streets, the prominent percent of people living here, Spanish spoken everywhere, but especially in the cuisine and Mexican traditions.

From 1969-1973, I attended the University of California, San Diego to study English Literature and Video making. After graduating, I could not afford an art studio and migrated north, to ELA to partake in a large growing community of Chicano artists that were forming.

Since 1979, I have been a part of a print studio collective in East Los Angeles (ELA) called Self Help Graphics & Art (SHG), founded in 1973.  SHG is an organization rooted in the Chicano community that intersects print art with social justice, with the ultimate goal of engendering new print artists. They also partner with art spaces/museums in the US and internationally to exchange cultural ideas and artistic expressions.  At Self Help, I studied printing though mentorship and professional print making classes.

One of the important cultural works that the SHG collective has developed is a platform for a community and family peaceful celebration that marks an annual time when the living and the deceased are as one. It features the importance of living together. This is a traditional Mesoamerican blend of pre-Columbian rituals and Catholic traditions called El Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead).

In the 1990s there were many reasons to find outlets for a united community: the Los Angeles Riots, excessive Police brutality with no-tolerance laws, historical gang truces, the CIA involved cocaine trafficking into low income areas of Los Angeles, and Proposition 187, a discriminatory law against undocumented immigrants of Hispanic and Asian origin that required any person employed by the government to monitor immigrants and report their suspicions to the police.

El Día de los Muertos, brought everyone together to quietly reflect in unity about our deceased, living and extended families.  Over an artistic altar of photographs, decorations and food; shared story telling honored every beloved deceased family member, friend and pet.

My print Festivity features my friend Marco Trejo (now on the other side) and my sister Elizabeth Delgadillo Merfeld (still on this side) with their faces painted in the traditional skeleton motif.  This is not meant as a scary matter, we are purposefully celebrating all the levels of the living experience, by mocking and accepting death. We are all part of the beautiful earthly transition, just like the plants, the animals and all of nature.  This celebration has become a national event all over the Americas.

Festivity is a silk screen mono-print, also an invention started at Self Help Graphics & Art.  The drawn image placed under the screen, allows the artist to transfer the image to the screen with silk screen inks and brush.  Usually it is a 15 minute only process, the inks must remain wet in order to be pushed onto the paper with the squeegee. I used liquid screen blocker applied with a brush, which gave me a longer image transfer time. After my image was transferred we poured a good amount of black paint at the top of the screen and pulled it down with the squeegee to fill in all the areas that had not been blocked.  A second ghost print can be made at this point, but I only made the one pass. I was quite content with the Andy Warholesk photographic pop-art quality it has.

 

 

by victoriadelgadillo

Regeneracion: Three Generations of Revolutionary Ideology

Regeneracion: Three Generations of Revolutionary Ideology examines the transnational exchange and circulation of revolutionary and activist ideas through which political protest intersected with experimental artistic practices across generations, and between the U.S. and Mexico. The exhibition centers on three instances of political and cultural production, each called Regeneracion, and the interconnected ideas and relationships between them. The term regeneracion was first used by the Los Angeles-based, Mexican anarchist Flores Magon brothers in their revolutionary-era political newspaper Regeneracion (1900 – 1918); subsequently adopted in the cultural and political journal Regeneracion (1970 – 1975), which was an important collaborative site for the Chicano avant-garde group Asco; and later evoked in the experimental space Regeneracion/Popular Resource Center of Highland Park (1993 – 1999).

These groups and sites of production were incubators for transnational political thought and forms of resistance that linked Mexico and the United States from the site of Los Angeles, stimulating the creation of journals, print media, plays, music, film, satirical cartoons, drawings, performances, and poetry, and contributing to the convergence of art, community, and politics across the span of one hundred years. Tracing political and artistic modes of cultural production rooted in counter-hegemonic practices within Latino communities in Los Angeles in the twentieth century, Regeneracion: Three Generations of Revolutionary Ideology aims to shed light on nuanced aspects of Southern California’s regional history.

This exhibition was organized with extensive collaboration from advisors, artists and historians. It reflects collaboration with, contributions from, and works by Lalo Alcaraz, ASCO, Raul Baltazar, Barnet, Jacinto Barrera Bassols, Alberto Beltran, Akira Boch, Ludovico Caminita, Oscar Castillo,  Zack de la Rocha, Elizabeth Delgadillo-Merfeld, Victoria Delgadillo (screening LA MODA), Richard Estrada, Lysa Flores, William Flores, Diego Flores Magon Bustamante, Roman Gabriel, Joseph Galarza, Diane Gamboa, Harry Gamboa Jr., Antonio (Willie) Garcia, Javier Gonzalez, Gronk, Colin Gunckel, Romeo Guzman, Sara Harris, Sergio Hernandez, Willie F. Herrón III, Marissa Hicks-Alcaraz, Blas Lara Cazares, Jesse Lerner, Manuel Lopez, Ruben Martinez, Lara Medina, Marisol Medina Cadena, Menoman Martinez, Claudia Mercado, Joseph (Nuke) Montalvo, Shawn Mortensen, Mujeres de Mai­z, Leo Ortiz, Ruben Ortiz-Torres, Raul Pacheco, Martin Quiroz, Omar Ramirez, Rudy Ramirez, Nicolas Reveles, Gregory Rodriguez, Seymour Rosen, Fermin Sagrista, Aida Salazar, Jeniffer Sanchez, Elias Serna, Humberto Terrones, The Mexican Spitfires, Edgar Toledo, Mark Torres, Adriana Trujillo, Patssi Valdez, Patricia Valencia, Arnoldo Vargas, L. Villegas Jr., Marius de Zayas, Sergio Zenteno and others.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a robust public program series, including art and music performances, film screenings, a symposium, and art workshops for families, in addition to a gallery sound booth for online radio station programming and conducting oral histories. In an effort to continue to gather materials related to this history, the Vincent Price Art Museum welcomes communication from those invested and engaged with these iterations of Regeneracion to deepen the research of these important periods.

The programming for Regeneracion: Three Generations of Revolutionary Ideology takes place at the Vincent Price Art Museum, East Los Angeles College, 1301 Avenida Cesar E. Chavez, Monterey Park, CA 91754.

Read more on Terremoto Art Magazine

by victoriadelgadillo

Mi Sereno

 

Raul Baltazar invited Los Angeles cultural workers, friends, family and neighbors to unite at Ascot Hills Park in El Sereno for two Sundays of processions, picnics and performances. Mi Sereno was a pair of ritual events honoring many generations of cultural workers, as they came together to form a larger body on two special days. Baltazar set a tone that was relaxed, playful, and introspective, with ephemera, games, picnic blankets, ritual trail hikes and group portraits observing the visual commons of the LA cultural worker. Those who were attending were encouraged to wear all Red or Blue outfits (comfortable walking/hiking attire), and to bring water, picnic blankets and food to share with others. This performance took place on January 14 and 21, 2018 – 11 am to 2pm. LOCATION: Ascot Hills Park, 4371 Multnomah St, Los Angeles, 90032

Victoria Delgadillo participated as a storyteller in Mi Sereno at Ascot Park, a beloved place of Raul Baltazar’s childhood.  The space is a breathtaking reserve of native plants and Los Angeles views.  Baltazar’s themes of family, nature, urban home and connections to native ritual echoed throughout the hiking trails of this performance.

“Baltazar sees the hills as a temple for the city’s Eastside Chicanx community, and said he wants the performance to serve as a moment of healing in the current political climate. ‘The piece is creating a space for people to congregate in a safe space, especially for us, as people of color, who are facing this really intense, violent time,’ he said. ‘I want to create a space for us to have leisure, to recuperate, and strengthen ourselves spiritually to create a connection with our network . . . and for this to create an impetus for future networking, workshopping, and community.’ - ArtNews, Maximiliano Duron, November 11, 2017

“Raul Baltazar’s Mi Sereno is an interactive, ritualistic experience over two Sundays honoring multiple generations of cultural workers.

The public is encouraged to wear red or blue, a collective costume that he sees as representing lava and water flowing through the hills. Participants are also encouraged to bring food to share at the picnic, where Danza de Compton will perform the Mexican folk dance La Danza de los Viejitos wearing traditional wood masks representing resistance to colonialism.

‘The first Sunday is focused more on the elders,’ Baltazar said, ‘our roots, how we migrated here, the foundation of where we come from. The second Sunday is more geared towards the children, the future, what we’re aspiring towards.’

The inspiration for the piece came last year when Baltazar visited Mineral de Pozos, near Guanajuato, Mexico, an old mining town his grandparents had migrated from. He learned of a custom in which the miners met once a year for a celebratory picnic.

Baltazar sees the El Sereno location of Mi Sereno as integral to the piece. Mi Sereno translates as My Peace, but as someone born and raised in the neighborhood, he also means My Sereno.

‘The trails end up becoming a microcosm or metaphor about how our ancestors have migrated throughout the continent,’ he said. ‘In the midst of this political climate where we’re meant to feel like lawbreakers or guests in our own home, this little sanctuary in the park is a place to celebrate the fact that we’re alive, and moving along the continent. We’re here, we all ended up here no matter what our stories are.’

Baltazar’s work breaks down the relationship between the audience and the artist — because you’re invited to participate in the midst of a community ritual that celebrates and claims a sense of belonging. It acknowledges connections between the land here and the land south of here. It’s a celebration of a neighborhood as home.” - Los Angeles Times, Devorah Vankin, January 11, 2018

 

“Anger remains in explorations of feminism, immigrant rights, environmental and economic justice, Mark Murphy (Executive Director of REDCAT) said, but he credits performances such as Raul Baltazar’s Mi Sereno with the transformative effect of activating, connecting and celebrating communities.” – LA Weekly, Beige Luciano-Adams,  January 24, 2018

 

 

by victoriadelgadillo

Con la Casa a Cuestras

A continuacion, esta descripcion esta en Espanol.

“Mi historia, tu historia, nuestra historia and Con la casa a las espaldas: miradas migrantes are an initiative of Proyecto Caracol. Migracion y patrimonio cultural and the International Seminar Con la casa a cuestas, a donde los pies me lleven, organized by the Pablo de Olavide University, Seville (Spain), the Benemorita Autonomous University of Puebla (Mexico) with the collaboration of the National Autonomous University of Mexico-Los Angeles (United States).

In life, there are those who constantly migrate, those who seek, those who displace themselves; and there are others that remain, that stay or travel without moving from place. It is important to recognize that, although we are of those who decide to remain, migration has a place, sometimes hidden, sometimes at the edge of the skin, in each and every one of our histories, because movement is an intrinsic part of the human being.

Nowadays, massive movements of large distances and stories that hurt us are prioritized, but if we start to recognize that displacement is an essential part of our own history, we may stop looking at ourselves from distance and start seeing each other closely and with empathy; because after all we are all the ones who live together day by day, the ones who run into each other on the street, the ones who travel together on the public transport, the ones who transform cities, the ones who live in a world in constant movement.  Visit UNAM LA

Mi historia, tu historia, nuestra historia y Con la casa a las espaldas: miradas migrante son una iniciativa que forma parte del Proyecto Caracol. Migracion y patrimonio cultural y el Seminario Internacional Con la casa a cuestas, a donde los pies me lleven organizado por la Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla (Espana), Benemorita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla (Mexico) con la colaboracion de la Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico-Los Angeles (Estados Unidos).

En la vida, hay quienes migramos constantemente, quienes buscamos, quienes nos desplazamos; y hay otros que permanecemos, que nos quedamos o viajamos sin movernos de lugar. Es importante reconocer que, aunque seamos de los que decidimos permanecer, la migracion tiene un lugar, a veces recondito, a veces a flor de piel, en todas y cada una de nuestras historias, porque el movimiento es parte intranseca del ser humano.

Hoy en dia se priorizan los movimientos masivos,  a gran escala, de grandes distancias y de historias que nos duelen, pero si empezamos por reconocer que el desplazamiento es parte esencial de nuestra propia historia, es posible que dejemos de mirarnos con distancia y desde la diferencia empecemos a vernos de cerca y desde la empati­a; porque finalmente somos todos quienes convivimos dia a di­a, quienes nos cruzamos en la calle, quienes viajamos juntos en el transporte, quienes transformamos las ciudades, quienes habitamos un mundo en constante movimiento.  Visita UNAM Los Angeles

by victoriadelgadillo

Gregorio Escalante Gallery July 2017

Victoria Delgadillo’s print Bolsa de Mercado was on display during the month of July 2017 at the Gregorio Escalante Gallery (in the upstairs Salon),978 Chung King Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90012. The gallery space had an impressive array of artists and exhibits!

NOTE: Due to the passing of Greg Escalante on 9/8/17, The Gregorio Escalante Gallery was permanently closed in 2017. Read more about the importance of Greg Escalante’s work.

by victoriadelgadillo

Digital Posters

Ayotzinapa to Ferguson, 2016

Lola La Trailera vs La Reina del Sur, 2016

La India Maria in Bollywood, 2016

Dame Dolores, 2016

Kung Fu Raza, 2016

La Prensa, 2016

by victoriadelgadillo

V-Day Protest in Ciudad Juarez, 2004

V-Day Protest in Ciudad Juarez, 2004. Photo of Pink Square project by Rigo Maldonado and Shakina Nayfack. The Squares which totaled 370 representing the women who had disappeared in Chihuahua, Mexico at that time, were related to over 10 years of femicides in southern Mexico with impunity.

(Above) Arena y Sangre, 2004 was filmed by Rigo Maldonado & Shakina Nayfack on the weekend of the V-Day protest.  In the film, Shakina Nayfack performs a Butoh Dance in El Lote Bravo, Ciudad Juarez. The pink squares held by V-Day protesters became part of this space/body healing performance. The soundtrack is of the V-Day protesters yelling “Ni Una Mas,” (Not One More).

Just south of Ciudad Juarez, near Juarez’ International Airport, El Lote Bravo, was an ad-hoc cemetery for victims in the area’s lethal drug wars. This desert irrigation ditch is also the place where the bodies of 8 murdered and mutilated women were discovered in 2001. The murders became known as “the cotton field murders” of Ciudad Juarez.

Shakina J. Nayfack, Ph.D. wrote in 2009: “. . . Butoh Ritual Mexicano reshapes and reconstitutes the site of its teaching and the bodies of its students, how these transformations confront and complicate the reality of US imperialism and global capitalism on a bodily and societal level, and what, if anything, can be gained from this dance form as an alternate mode of survival and renewal.”

 After V-Day the pink squares were used as part of various Juarez Femicide workshops led by Rigo Maldonado and Victoria Delgadillo in 2004 and after. Materials and images of the women of Juarez (collected by Rigo and Victoria) were provided to participants to create protest art. Art is an excellent way to discuss and strategize for difficult social issues.

In 2010, Victoria Delgadillo co-organized an international month of femicide art activism events in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Fort Worth, Quebec, Mexico City, New York, Sydney, Los Angeles, and Albuquerque with collaborator, filmmaker/poet Pilar Rodriguez Aranda in Mexico City and by solely communicating via the internet.

The pink square project moved to Mexico City in 2010 with Pilar Rodriguez Aranda, who organized several months of femicide art activism events in Mexico, encouraged many to create public art installations as a form of protest by using the model from the US.

(Below) Bordamos Por la Paz (We Embroider for Peace) having seen the pink square project in Mexico, began a protest sewing circle in public places throughout Mexico (now expanding all over the world). The attendees discuss violence in their communities and make embroidered statements about it to create a protest display.

by victoriadelgadillo

Self Help Graphics: Aztlan, the Permanent Collection, and Beyond

shg-permanent-collection-and-beyond
Exhibition: August 28, 2016 to January 15, 2017
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 6, 2016, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Self Help Graphics & Art (SHG), a community art center based in East Los Angeles, has been an integral part of Chicano art production since its foundation in 1970. SHG played a critical role in the Chicano movement and the art of printmaking was a means to expand activism around civil rights and ethnic pride. The deployment of printmaking as a vehicle for grassroots organizing and political and social commentary was profoundly influenced by Mexican artists of the 1920s and 1930s, such as Jose Guadalupe Posada, Leopoldo Mendez, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, as well as art collectiveTaller de Grafica Popular in Mexico City. Drawing upon these influences, Franciscan nun Sister Karen Boccalero formed SHG, joining a wave of other Chicano printmakers in Chicago, San Francisco, and Sacramento. Sister Boccalero’s roots in activist art can be traced to her education at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles where she studied under Sister Corita Kent, influential printmaker and social justice advocate of the 1960s and 1970s. Sister Karen Boccalero, along with artists Carlos Bueno, Antonio Ibaez, FrankHernández, and others held their first exhibition in 1971.
Established in Boyle Heights, SHG was enormously successful in promoting Chicano artists and outreaching to young Latino artists throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and was a means to celebrate Chicano culture, to empower a political voice, and to generate art that was rooted in Mexican tradition and that bypassed the mainstream art world. The Chicano self-empowerment movement drove the vision of SHG. Artists created art, held their own exhibitions, and sold their work on their own terms.
SHG became a critical gathering place in the local community and was a site of art making, activism, and music. During the 1970s, SHG brought the traditions of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, to Los Angeles as means to reclaim indigenous identity and to engage the local community in the cultural practices of making papel picado and altars, and holding printmaking workshops for the community. In 1974, SHG also launched Barrio Mobile Art Studio, a vehicle equipped with art supplies that went directly into Latino communities “to develop the individual’s aesthetic appreciation, to provide an alternative mode of self-expression, and to increase the individual’s appreciation of Chicano culture.”
In 1982, SHG began its seminal Experimental Screen print Atelier, a workshop program that allowed artists to create high-quality limited edition prints using methods such as serigraphy, intaglio, and lithography. This new direction offered Chicano artists a foray into the mainstream art world and art market. During the 1990s, SHG sought a more outward-facing posture and began seeking to disseminate Chicano art to a wider audience. SHG organized the traveling exhibition, Chicano Expressions, and donated numerous artworks to archives and museums. In 1996, a year before her death, Sister Boccalero donated 42 prints to the Riverside Art Museum (RAM) to be held in our Permanent Collection.
SHG continues its legacy of bringing art to the community through its programs. Día de los Muertos remains a significant cultural celebration for SHG and in Los Angeles, and the Barrio Mobile Art Studio is still active today and was recently brought to Riverside’s Eastside by RAM and the Riverside Community Health Foundation. An exhibition of prints created with Eastside residents and the Barrio Mobile Art Studio is on view in the Taylor Family Gallery.
The atelier program is now the internationally acclaimed Professional Printmaking program that invites 10-20 printmakers as artists in residence each year to address a range of themes, including SHG’s traditional themes of culture, religion, politics, and Day of the Dead, as well as evolving themes of ecology, female empowerment, and gentrification.
Over time, SHG has broadened its approach to art making from strictly Mexican-American heritage to the broader pan-Latin-American community, as well as to other cultures and communities that have shared aesthetic political goals. SHG, in partnership with the Museum of Latin American Art and the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, organized an international artist ambassador exchange program with the Taller Experimental de Gráfica in Cuba. Earlier this year, SHG co-produced with Social Public Art Resource Center, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, and Art Division, a traveling exhibition called Ayotzinapa: A Roar of Silence of works by international printmakers from Mexico, Iran, Poland, Spain, Portugal, China, Greece, and other countries that call for justice for the 43 disappeared students in Guerrero, Mexico.
Self Help Graphics: Aztlán, the Permanent Collection, and Beyond includes selections from RAM’s Permanent Collection by some of the iconic artists and master printmakers from SHG that were created in the 1980s and 1990s, such as Victoria Delgadillo, Diane Gamboa, Gronk, Leo Limon, Roberto Gutierrez, Jose Alpuche, Patssi Valdez, and more. On loan from SHG are works by Margaret Quica Alarcon, Poli Marichal, Dewey Tafoya, Miyo Stevens-Gandara, Dalila Paola Mendez, Yamylis Brito Jorge, Carlos del Toro, Dayron Fernandez, Aliosky Garci­a, Octavio Irving Hernandez, Pavel Acevedo, and others.
Related Programming
*Pochoir and Oil Resist with Cynthia Huerta|
Saturday, September 10, 12 noon to 3 p.m., Free with paid admission or membership.  Artist Cynthia Huerta will be leading visitors in a printmaking workshop that explores pochoir, a sophisticated stenciling technique. She will also be teaching oil resist to produce prints in this workshop/taller.
*Chine-colle with Pavel Acevedo
Thursday, September 15, 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Free with paid admission or membership. Artist Pavel Acevedo will lead this workshop/taller in chine-colle, a special technique in printmaking, in which the image is transferred to a surface that is bonded to a heavier support.
*Talk and Tour with Joel Garcia of Self Help Graphics
Saturday, September 24, 12 noon to 1 p.m., Free with paid admission or membership. Join the Director of Programs & Operations at Self Help Graphics & Art Joel Garcia for a talk about the history, legacy, and ongoing efforts to create Latino art in East Los Angeles and beyond, and tour our Self Help Graphics: Aztlan, the Permanent Collection, and Beyond exhibit with Joel as he discusses the artists of Self Help Graphics’ past and present. Plus Victoria Delgadillo, Artist/Curator of  2013 “Communication Threads & Entwined Recollections” Print Atelier LV will speak on the print process and vision of selected prints by Victoria Delgadillo, Patricia Valencia and Dalila Paola Mendez included in this Riverside Museum of Art exhibit.
*Self Help Graphics: Aztlan, the Permanent Collection, and Beyond
Opening Reception + Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration
Thursday, October 6, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Free. Please join us for the Opening Reception of
Self Help Graphics: Aztlan, the Permanent Collection, and Beyond during the October Artswalk. Come celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with SHG and local artists, as well as with the Riverside County Mexican American Historical Society’s Roots of Our Family pop-up exhibition and speaker Professor Raymond Buriel at 6:30 p.m. Professor Buriel will be speaking on Mexican Culture and the Citrus Industry in Riverside.
*Alebrijes with Cosme Cordova
Saturday, October 15, and Sunday, October 16, 12 noon to 3 p.m., Free with paid admission or membership. Join Cosme Cordova for this special two-day workshop and learn how to make alebrijes, brightly colored Oaxacan-Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures. Though these sculptures are traditionally made of wood, Cosme will be helping visitors create fun papier mache alebrijes.
by victoriadelgadillo

ChIFF, Chicano International Film Festival 2016

On Saturday, September 10, 2016 the Chicano International Film Festival (ChIFF) took place at Plaza de la Raza, 3540 N. Mission Road, Los Angeles, CA  90031.  The day long film festival begin with live music, an art exhibit in the boat house, food and drink, various panel discussions on historical and contemporary Chicano filmmaking and a red carpet ceremony.

On Sunday, September 11, 2016 ChIFF moved to the Arclight Hollywood Theater, 6360 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028 for a special screening of feature film, “The Other Barrio.” This special screening is followed by Q&A with the filmmakers, a ChIFF Awards presentation, live music and a VIP reception.

Two fictitious film posters with a “films I wish I could have made” theme created by Victoria Delgadillo for the exhibit are  “Kung Fu Raza,” a Mexploitation style theme on good vs evil. “Dame Dolores,” a movie poster on the loves of Golden Age of Mexican Cinema star Dolores del Rio.

My 2nd piece in this exhibit "Kung Foo Raza"

"Dame Dolores" is my piece for this exhibit

by victoriadelgadillo

Indigenous Women and Creative Traditions: Transforming Lives through Radical Practice

Indigenous Women and Creative Traditions: Transforming Lives through Radical Practice

“I’m very honored to be a part of such an inspiring and important exhibition of Indigenous ceremonial art at Queensland, Australia’s University. Programming on The Spiritual and Healing Aspects of Art, Ritual and Ceremony took place in 2016. Many thanks to Prof. Yreina D Cervantez for recommending my work.” – Victoria Delgadillo.

This exhibition was curated by Alma Cervantes and Megan Darr and ran from June 21 to July 7, 2016. Read More

by victoriadelgadillo

From Ayotzinapa to Ferguson Protest Exhibition

From Ayotzinapa to Ferguson Protest Exhibition
May 1 through June 10, 2016

Self Help Graphics & Art in partnership with Social Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), the Center for the Study of Political Graphics and Art Division launch of a series of exhibitions and activities regarding the governmental systematic murder of youth of color in the United States and Mexico.

“I made a special digital poster (below) for this important art activism exhibit. The title is A2F. Please join in solidarity with the youth in America and Mexico who are being erased systematically from our world.” –Victoria Delgadillo

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Self-Help Graphics & Art, Inc. is a community arts center in East Los Angeles, California, USA. Formed during the cultural renaissance that accompanied the Chicano Movement, Self Help, as it is sometimes called, was one of the primary centers that incubated the nascent Chicano art movement, and remains important in the Chicano art movement, as well as in the greater Los Angeles community, today.
 
Self-Help Graphics & Art, Inc.
1300 E 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90033
 
by victoriadelgadillo

Cinema Directo

 
My solo exhibit: “Cinema Directo” from February 12 to March 20, 2016, took place at Steppling Art Gallery, San Diego State University lV, 720 Heber Avenue, Calexico, CA 92231 (760) 768-5536. Curated by SDSIV Gallery Director and Founder of The MexiCali Biennial, Prof. Luis G.Hernandez.

On Thursday, March 17, I traveled to Calexico for a weekend of events related to this exhibit. It started with my lecture entitled “Separate Reality: A Journey through Chicana/o Art”  followed by an artist reception in the gallery for Cinema Directo.  Many students attended. I received some very engaging questions on filmmaking and my artistic vision/methods when creating films.

On Friday, March 18,  Luis Hernandez arranged an interview about Cinema Directo at Radio Formula 1150 Mexicali, Baja California. Each Friday afternoon in the 3pm to 4pm spot News Anchor Ruben Gomez (twitter.com/ruhgr) features art from the Imperial Valley. I struggled through my 15 minutes of fame spot in Spanish–but it was fun!

 
Featured in the Exhibit were short art films and fantasy digital movie posters of films I wished I could direct.

LA Woman, was selected for “Out of the Window” the first and highly revered Transit TV Film Festival on the Los Angeles Metro.  LA Woman is a moment of solitude while driving across Los Angeles, where there is a spirituality of visual offerings, some spontaneous and others purposeful.  Influenced by Film Director Jean-Luc Godard of the French New Wave movement (i.e., no script or storyboard, and letting the narrative evolve on set), I wanted to communicate the experience of a heavy car culture ride in Los Angeles. In LA Woman, the film subjects are women on billboards invoked to tell their own interconnected stories.

Ms 40oz, a documentation of a larger exhibition on the gentrification of businesses in downtown Los Angeles, was a performance that I scripted and directed. Drawing from archetypes of gang violence in the media and feelings of agitation by the sudden media approval of singer Gwen Stefani dressed as a Chola, Ms 40oz was a self-determined humorous street intervention.  In the style of an premiere ribbon-cutting, which was comprised of mariachis and mural unveilings when my family opened a new business, Ms. 40oz celebrates the festivity of a street blessing for prosperity without forgetting those who came before.  Ms 40oz is portrayed by Jennifer Salinas, a former Miss Illinois and also a Miss America contestant.

Bɔrdər a joy ride in Tijuana to the beach with swept-away-by-a-wave music of Baja Californian musician Ceci Bastida. Bɔrdər, the phonetic pronunciation of the word border, features separated families, lovers and children sitting on both sides of the US/Mexico border sharing food, documents and letters through a chain-linked fence.  On the Tijuana side, there are restaurants with beachside panoramic views that are disturbed by the sudden lunge of a speeding immigration van pushing someone back for getting too close to US land. When this happens, diners in the restaurants jump up from their meals and everyone gasps. In Calexico I learned that the footage I filmed is no longer how that section of the border looks. 

LA Dream,  a film about The 6th Street Bridge Viaduct in East Los Angeles, a city monument that has appeared in numerous films, television shows, music videos and video games since 1932.  LA Dream was shot in Super 8 film and contains the elements of timelessness that I aspire to obtain in most of my work. Timelessness is achieved through a studied selection of clothing, props, sets, make-up, color choices, lighting and though the refusal to use the latest popular film embellishments (i.e., stickers, filters, re-coloring, the latest digital technology and fixes). 

Santa Perversa in Cuba, was filmed on location in 2008.  This film is a poetry video of Los Angeles performance artist Reina Alejandra Ibarra aka Reina Prado aka Healing Queen as she is offering her message of ardent love. A bootleg cd of Juan Formell y los Van Van that I purchased in a covert transaction on a Havana Vieja street, flavors the video with an authenticity of the moment.  Shot during a time when Americans traveling to Cuba could be prosecuted severely by the US government, Santa Perversa in Cuba is an entertaining time stamp of a moment in history.

Cinema Directo  featured what if code switching movie posters that I created such as What if La India Maria starred in a Bollywood film? These movie posters were inspired by my favorite film genres and themes, my artistic collaborators and by the following movie titles by Mexican Director Icaro Cisneros (1925 – 1984): Las Sobrinas del Diablo (1982), El Triangulo del Crimen (1983), Gente Violenta (1977), Las Cabareteras (1980),Vividores de Mujeres (1981), Las Fabulosas del Reventon (1982), Disputas en la Calle (1979), La Golfa del Barrio (1981),and Esos Viejos Raboverdes (1982).

by victoriadelgadillo

“The Space” Regeneracion

An historical overview of Regeneracion art space (1992ish -2000) was presented for the Getty initiative Pacific Standard Time at The San Diego Museum (May 2, 2015).  Attendees commented on the interesting history of this collective and their international work in social justice–how exciting it was to hear of events of such scale occurring in a seemingly quiet area of Los Angeles.

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“Caught Between a Whore and an Angel” the first women’s exhibit at Regeneracion was produced by Patricia Valencia, Aida Salazar, Elizabeth Delgadillo Merfeld and Victoria Delgadillo in 1996. The idea to have a women’s show at Regeneracion was Patricia Valencia’s — inspired by Sub-comandande Ramona, Cecilia Rodriguez and the other Zapatista women in Chiapas coming to the forefront in leadership.

caught between a whore &

The show’s concept of living art as opposed to the usual paintings hung on the wall, complimented “In the Red,” (the first men’s performance exhibit at Regeneracion)–which was the idea of Elizabeth Delgadillo Merfeld.  Elizabeth also created the publicity image from a backdrop Patricia Valencia and Victoria Delgadillo painted on red cloth, using a photo projected image of a 1910 Zapatista soldada.  Aida Salazar was the brilliant show organizer/producer.  As an community organizer, Victoria Delgadillo established written and verbal communication updates with the participating artists, helping them to problem solve administrative matters, as well as persuaded everyone to include men in the show. Sometimes the whole family needs to come together, just as we women had helped with In the Red. There was a tremendous amount of work to put this show together, using our only resource: a network of friends.

Later, Claudia Mercado and Felicia Montes, the founders of Mujeres de Maiz noted that “Caught Between a Whore and an Angel,” inspired the inception of Las Mujeres de Maiz.  Its interesting to see how art can grow and inspire great things.  Regeneracion had many participants and many stories of art, music, words and resistance. This is just one of them.

“The body of a woman is also a battleground ” -Cecilia Rodriquez, EZLN (1995)

 

Las Mujeres de Chiapas marchan

(below) The Mexican Spitfires (Elizabeth Delgadillo Merfeld, Patricia Valencia & Victoria Delgadillo) created “La Moda” as their offering for the Caught Between a Whore and an Angel exhibit. It stars Marco Trejo aka DJ Yaqui (†), Patricia Valencia and Elizabeth Delgadillo Merfeld. Victoria Delgadillo filmed in the Direct Cinema genre style which took 1 hour. The script was spontaneously decided by the group during costume changes. After filming, it took Victoria 3 hours to create the synchronized sound track using her personal record collection and transcribing them onto a cassette tape. This film was created with a hand held video recorder shot in sequence (no edits) and a separate cassette tape for the sound. Artists Alma Lopez transferred the Video into a digitized MP4, later Martin Sorrondeguy & Rigo Maldonado added the cassette soundtrack to the digitized film.

View La Moda

Read more about La Moda

by victoriadelgadillo

Scotch Tape Cinema

One afternoon in July of 2015 I took a studio class at the Echo Park Film Center on experimental film making.  This is a very interesting technique on making looping films and looping sound tracks with no camera.

Basically, the film: is a transparent lead of 16mm film about 6 feet long with the beginning and the end taped together to create a loop. The images are magazine clippings (soaked in warm water to detach the pulp, leaving transparent images). The transparent images are adhered to the film lead by sandwiching the clippings between a 1/2 inch wide piece of transparent scotch tape to the film.

The sound: is an old music cassette tape made into a loop by opening the case and cutting out a piece big enough to make one circulation through the “play” process and scotch taping the beginning to the end to create a loop. The rest of the tape is taken out and the case is re-closed. Note that this can only be done on music cassette tapes that are sealed with tiny screws.

The above experimental film was created by Margie Schnibbe, Ariel Teal, Anna Ayeroff, and Victoria Delgadillo. The Scotch Tape Cinema and Sound class was taught by Mike Stoltz. He also digitized and edited the final version.

My film is the last section with the sound track of “Depeche Mode” on a loop. Enjoy! 

Below is another experimental film I made at EPFC (May 2016)–all on computer–“Vortex.” I can’t remember the process though. That IS my hand manipulating something. Now that I am looking at this it seems to me that the circle is the computer camera lense/eye, and I am touching the computer screen to get the waves. There must be a computer mirror setting to get those atmospheric views, as you record from the computer at the same time.  Well, remember that old age is not a factor on my memory, I tend to forget things I won’t use anymore. I’m just jaded.

by victoriadelgadillo

Democratizing Food in Boyle Heights

From a paper written by Prof. Enrique C. Ochoa February 2014, Democratizing Food Policies: Community Activists and Reclaiming Mexicana/o Food Cultures and Health in Boyle Heights:  

“PUBLIC ART
The arts, public art in particular, have been important forms of resistance by marginalized communities and a way for (re)claiming space and cultural identity. Chicana/o artists have long been working to ‘flip the script’ on aspects of culture and community that have been subjects to disparagement and erasure by colonial culture.  Since the Zapatista uprising in 1994, maize has been a growing subject (and medium) in the eastside art community.

  • Much of this work has focused on cultural symbolism and the reclaiming of maize and tortillas as key symbols of Mexican and indigenous identity. for example, the artist Joe Bravo uses tortillas as the canvas of his paintings of a wide variety of Chicana/o cultural icons, thus literally centering tortillas.
  • There is also a growing body of work linking capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy and their impacts on traditional diets and cultures. For example, many Chicana feminist artists such as members of the artist collective Mujeres de Maiz, are engaged in visual and performance art that examines, class, gender, and cultural resistance. The exhibit ‘100 Years of [Mexican] Food and Revolution” curated by Victoria Delgadillo and Leslie Gutierrez Saiz at Self Help Graphics in September and October 2010 captured the dynamics of food, culture, gender and revolution in Mexicana/o communities.”

100 Years of Food & Revolution postcard.  Concept: Victoria Delgadillo. Image: Leslie Gutierrez-Saiz

Read the entire paper by Prof. Enrique C. Ochoa here

by victoriadelgadillo

Loteria La Victoria

In 2011 my friend, designer and fellow artist Leslie Gutierrez Saiz made a special birthday party game for me–Loteria! It came complete with frijolitos and a pine box to hold the game in. The box exterior was inscribed with “La Victoria” on top of a blue star.  Such a sweet treat! At the party Raul Paulino Baltazar helped me call out the cards and we both had fun inventing names for each of the images.

Below are the Loteria La Victoria game cards with images of my art on them.

Visit Leslie Gutierrez Saiz at her Etsy store here. She has great merch for you or any special event you are planning.  

Loteria La Victoria Card 2

Artist Alma Lopez painted this brush case as birthday gift to me. La Estrella!
During the Holidays in 2023, the kids in my watercolor class painted loteria cards, then played the game!

by victoriadelgadillo

Introspection on Being Chicana

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After having attempted every avenue available in the United States to find success, the racism that prevails appeared at the end of each path for my family, leaving them idealizing that a university education would be the key to gaining access to that promised life of equality and democracy. Never having experienced the landscape of the institutions, they encouraged it as a goal for me.

Political awareness heightened for me at the university. I sought to identify with who I was, instead of trying to hide my origins, as many educated Mexican-Americans had done through marriages with European descendants. I embraced the new culture identified from a Mexican experience in the United States, called Chicana.

Being Chicana begins for each woman from various life epiphanies, however the common bind is social alienation, either due to language, origin, color, sex, opportunities and finally through an awareness of a system of exclusivity that is unobtainable. Having attended only public schools in an urban setting, I did not experience racism until I attended the university. It was in the English Literature Department when my professor, treated and graded me as if my presence in his class was an affront to the English language. The youth of my era and background had to possess a great inner strength to climb over obstacles in life.

I had been approached to participate in the white feminist movement of the late 1960s and 1970s–including the new women art movements in California, but I have always found the counter-masculine agenda ineffective to my ideal of one-humanity. Ultimately feminism is about the freedom to act and think in various personal expressions: denying the male role in humankind or clinging to it, with the conclusive goal of being able to enjoy all the freedoms that others in society enjoy. This is not to say that there is no value in knowing oneself deeply through like-minded groups, but it is only one aspect of defining oneself in the world. How I arrived to my place in this society and how I would externalize my manifestation, is my own personal journey of discovery.

Once I graduated from the University of California, San Diego, I went on a quest for experience. My cautiousness to proclaim that I was an artist was a result of wanting to find a higher purpose for creating, not just a means of livelihood, fame or elitism. While the white Women’s Art movement stimulated civil right actions by challenging the art institutions in California and internationally, I sought others who knew my legacy of Mexican art, music, literature and their cultural institutions.

by victoriadelgadillo

This is why I love LA!

I am a transplant to LA since 1978, but have lived here longer than I have lived anywhere else. I suppose I am a native now. My story is that I am a love child conceived in the tullies between Tijuana and San Diego by two native Angelenos. I think the love of LA and the love of the unconventional, was somehow planted in my DNA.

I’m not kidding when I say that I can pass by the same place several times a week in LA and see it differently each time. I am always surprised by its beauty, spiritual calling and places of subtle ritual. Today I went through the 2nd Street Tunnel going east and it was such a magical experience, that I had to take pictures. It was raining, the cars were all of a suddenly at a stand still. I ended up in the middle of the tunnel with red break-lights illuminating the white tiles that line the tunnel.

See what I see:

SSPX00521

by victoriadelgadillo

2014!

Heart in Hand

 

2014 has already started off with a bang.  I have been extremely busy (as usual) with the woes of 2013 in a far distance.  Money is coming in for some major projects to be completed.

Strange how getting past worries and believing in a perfect universe–summons the resolution.  I am not lucky, I just have faith in the world and my journey.  Getting caught up in mundane life problems, can become a barrier towards tomorrow.  I see those stumbling blocks in others, as they cannot forgive, forget, release, move-on.

In the past few years and especially the last few months, I see that all matters have a logical resolution.  It does not matter what the problem is, with patient research, networking and dialogue–the answers are there–somewhere close.

Many artists fall by the wayside because they give up on themselves and their destiny.  They do not believe that it is their fate to create art.  There is a silly notion from books and movies that informs us as to what an artist life should be: being born with a “gift” to create art, going to art school, feeling tortured, getting discovered, making lots of money.

In truth, being an artist is not wanting to do any other thing, and not knowing what else to do.  You get lost in creating the work,  doing the research, not thinking of much more.

 

by victoriadelgadillo

Whew!

I am still trying to catch my breathe from the past few months. Back in my Los Angeles home base, I am looking forward to what 2014 will bring. I am ambitiously thinking of some new art projects. Funny when you see your artwork spread out in front of you, it begins to make complete sense.

Anyway, here is a film I made in 2006 for an exhibit on dessert fetishes and the excesses of being American. Performance artist Maria Elena Fernandez is captured on a provocative summer day in Crema.

On my 50th birthday in 2001, all my friends and collaborators were asked to dress in their project-with-me clothes. Maria Elena came in with a cardboard cinema frame in front of her face, that only showed her mouth eating an ice cream in a cone. Loved it!

by victoriadelgadillo

Institut des Amériques

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These past weeks, I have been too busy to blog. Someone noted last night, that I am like everyone in LA keeping extremely busy to feel that I am having a full-life. Work, a flu and more work are my only excuses. Financial woes too and cramming everything into some time allotment.

I submitted an application for a grant, and tried to file more, but on the other applications I was either too late or too early. It seemed like destiny was saying “Move on to the next thing, Mujer.” It is said that there is some easy flow, when things are meant to be. I am still trying to experience or get-into-the-groove of what that might feel like. My life is struggle, struggle and then some more of the same.

Latched onto someone’s star, I have been invited to present my art work at a conference in France this December. Instituts des Amériques/Women in the Americas conference in partnership with, the Centre for Mexican and Central America Studies (CEMCA) in its 11th edition of organizing this conference. This time taking place in Marseille, France. The congress will analyze the continuities and changes in roles, identities and representations of women in the Americas. It will be held in English, French and Spanish and will lead to several international publications.

Publication! Yes, I am writing like crazy, trying to document what my art is about in 6000 words, English and Spanish. My mind wanders with all the ideas that I have and sometimes contradicting my panel: “Feminist Interventions: Art and Community Building in a Transnational Era.” Writing about what one does, when one likes to be behind the scenes is a mega challenge, coupled with getting the finances together to travel and find accommodations–a race that is neck and neck. Wish I had people, like other artists do, but I am sure I would reject that eventually. I love my privacy.

It occurs to me that maybe I have let-go as an artist, and it’s only in my mind that I think I am such a controller (even when behind the scenes). I am going to ponder that more. My mind is all over the place these days. Anyway this is the place “Axe 8 Arts.” I am getting ready to make my European debut. “When I am aligned with my path, the universe opens doors in front of me.”

by victoriadelgadillo

Photograph: Richard Armas

 Through an introduction by a close UCSD friend,  I became part of the Richard Armas’ photography studio clique in San Diego (1973-ish).  Ricky (to everyone) was a very methodical photographer who had at one time been the booking clerk and composite photographer at the San Diego Police Department. Although never revealed formally, connecting the dots that his father (the Sheriff of Downey) had facilitated such an interesting civil servant job for his son, was obvious to his friends. The fact that Ricky was somewhat secretly gay at the Police Department, gave him an interesting insight to the cruelty police perpetrated towards the LGBTQ community. He related these work stories with a matter-of-fact attitude, a loud scripted HA HAAAAAA somewhere in between, followed by a head nod of pity.

Even though he did not look obviously gay or Mexican, he lived an open life with a nonchalant air of always being on the right side of the law.  Speaking middle class Downey, California English, Ricky related culturally as an American, however, he was drawn to all things Mexican, which could be noted in the make-up of most of his friends, his lover and his diet.

Upon making the big move to Los Angeles, because ‘its where the industry and opportunities are!,”  Ricky converted a large commercial space on Hudson and Santa Monica Boulevard into his living and work studio. I followed my pied piper friend to LA too. His space was the first loft style living situation I had seen in person.  He worked weeks on sanding the floors, creating separate living/work spaces, a kitchenette and a full bathroom out of an old storage warehouse with a freight elevator.  Now his old loft lies in small theater district, a colander for the Hollywood overflow. Here is where Ricky created his full time photo studio, along with many LGBTQ entrepreneurs –a sort of Castro Street in Los Angeles, that morphed into West Hollywood, then into WeHo (pun intended).

One thing that tied us as friends was our love of Rhythm and Blues (R&B) music.  Living in LA gives the unique opportunity of attending music showcases in bars, little theaters and public places where musicians are on a descend or ascend.  Totally star-struck, Ricky loved to pass his business card onto R&B musicians after a set, beckoning them to sit for a photo in his studio.  His love of this music and these artists reflected in the work he produced in those years.  Pulling out all his skills and associates to recreate a poorly represented climbing/falling idol for a few pennies, seemed to bring him so much joy.

His “for profit” work consisted mainly of studio fashion product shots, that used models, hair stylists and make-up artists.  From these years of close friendship with Richard, I learned the process of starting a professional photography studio, marketing, networking–which enhanced my knowledge of the other side of photography and film as a job. Eventually, I lost interest in commercial art and sought artistic camaraderie in East Los Angeles. I hungered for art work that had political substance, that spoke to my culture and was spiritual.  In retrospect, I know that I was also affected (at that time) by the overwhelming number of deaths from AIDS in my circle of friends and my inability to cope with such helplessness.   When I left the Richard Armas circle (early 1980s),  I never saw him again.

Ricky Armas’ selfie

Gilberto Torres from Tijuana lived with Ricky for  37 years as his life partner and business representative.  He made the move to Los Angeles and toiled along side with Ricky to make their business work. In the last 30 years together, Gilberto styled Julie Newmar, Carmen Electra, Madeline Stowe, Eric Estrada, Shannon Doherty, Matt Cedeño, Barbara Carrera, Laura Harring and Constance Marie for photographs and magazine covers that were used in Play Girl, Vogue (Mexico), Women’s Wear Daily, Passion Magazine and the Advocate.   Gilberto is to this day an HIV community activist in San Diego and Palm Springs.  Ricky (Richard) Armas died in April 24, 2009.  He was 58.

by victoriadelgadillo

Textile Stories in Print

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Tradition by Rocky Ormsby-Olivares

I curated a print series, Communication Threads & Entwined Recollections, that will be unveiled on Sunday, June 30th at the studios of Self Help Graphics & Art an internationally prominent producer of fine-art, silk screen prints.

The series is based on a concept of creating personal stories about textiles from artists who use fiber in their own disciplines. It was at once an appealing idea to me as the curator and a challenging one for the artists to create the flavor of fiber art in 2 dimensions. Drawing from a grand textile history of basket weaving to catalytic cloth with built-in computer chips, the artists thoughtfully embraced the challenge of creating their own unique perspectives on a 22X30 inch print.

This print suite of 10 artists is comprised of 2 knit bombers, 2 filmmakers, 1 graphic designer, 1 performance artist, 1 costume designer, 1 fiber artist, 1 vintage cloth re-purpose artist and 1 mixed media installation artist. This  complete suite of prints will be added to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) print collection in 2013.

Hop on the Goldline metro, exit at the Pico-Aliso station (1 stop after Little Tokyo)—Self Help Graphics & Art is right in front of this stop. The open studio Print Fair is from 12pm to 5pm. View these prints, meet the artists, see other prints in this astounding studio, attend a panel discussion at 2pm on the series and learn about the print process through demonstrations.

by victoriadelgadillo

Sub/Culture

Still from “LA Woman” 2011

“Sub/Culture are video works exploring the heterogeneity of Los Angeles and the complex mix of personal, social, historical, and geographic variables that both divide and connect us. To be an Angelino is to be a part of one or more subcultures, which alternately blend and clash in compelling ways demonstrated by the communities and individuals depicted in these works.” – Freewaves

Freewaves is a library of art films, whose mission is also to promote youth filmmaking. I was notified today that my film “LA Woman” will be screened on April 19, 2013 at Occidental College in Eagle Rock, California, along with special student work that was created for the theme of Sub/Culture.

I created “LA Woman” in 2011 as an homage to the billboards, signs and murals seen throughout the city which feature various ideals of what a Los Angeles woman is.  I had pondered for many months, how I would capture the compelling images I saw while driving everyday.

Above in the photo still of my film, I captured a young woman walking by a mural of a brown girl in a brown beret. Obviously this image was created to encourage brown-female pride.  In a saint-like exclamation, the muralist painted roses by the girl’s head. I love when the world provides inspiration and final touches.

I enjoy the fact that my art is paired with the works of new young filmmakers. The thought that my ideas and artistic perspective is something young people can relate to, is an amazing reward in itself.

by victoriadelgadillo

Bad Girls Leave Home

Heartfelt & Homespun, 2004, Mixed Media

Heartfelt & Homespun, 2004, Mixed Media

There is an association called Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambios Sociales (Women who are Active in Academia and Social Change) established in 1982, at UC Davis, with the purpose of documenting the contributions of Chicanas and sharing it with other feminists. MALCS sponsors an institute on themes related to academic pursuits and world change. This year the conference takes place in July at The Ohio State University, with the theme this year of Movements, Migrations, Pilgrimages and Belongings.

Our panel discussion: Bad Girls Leave Home: Subverting the Good Girl Aesthetic in Prose, Performance and Art Activism was selected as one of the presenters for the institute! Usually, I am really lame at writing proposals and getting them accepted. I cringe when I press send on these things. That is why I love the collective–there’s power in a group of heads. Even though my words were the opening for our proposal, it goes down better sent and edited by other hands.

The group consists of Maya Chinchilla, Reina Prado, Vickie Vertiz and me. For this panel presentation I am creating a Power Point. I have been attending the University of YouTube recently, getting some techniques and tips on making my presentation interesting.

Although I have presented many times on Art Activism, each version is different. I am still active and evolving in this genre. As a presenter one must be informative and brief. That is difficult, because once a devotee begins speaking about a personal passion, they become transfixed. My greatest fear is awaking from my talk and seeing that the audience is restless and bored.

by victoriadelgadillo

Drive-by Artists

Candle, watercolor.

Candle, watercolor.

My art circle defines a Drive-by Artist as someone who invades a community or exposes a subject’s life for the sole purpose of creating art, then moves onto the next subject.

Such has been the case of some filmmakers or site-specific artists. These artists find an interesting topic, they translate the subject’s story into art, but never consider what impact the artistic retelling of highly personal stories will be for the subjects.

It is easy for an artist to move from project to project under the guise of helping to shine a spotlight on subjects that would not be brought to the forefront otherwise.

The hardship for the subject is that they do not have the resources to move onto another subject. Momentary fame in a gallery, magazine or theater does not resolve a social matter. Many times the subject has a naive illusion that a well presented artist has the ability to end their circumstance. In the end they may only receive a small recompense for their time with a Drive-by Artist.

True art activism is a continued connection with a cause by exposing it over and over in an artistic series, until the dilemma is resolved. Art activism is making a pledge to stay connected with subjects, to use all personal resources to help create change for the subjects and to make life-long friendships with the humans who inspire your art.

by victoriadelgadillo

My Film Making Inspiration

What inspires my art, are those around me. If you look at enough of my work, you will start to realize that many of the models I use are people that I know, mostly friends.  I suppose all artists draw from their surroundings.

Especially, when I look at my body of film work, I realized that I am not creating a film, but more of a moving photograph of my subject.  I don’t try to write a script or make my stars do anything that is foreign to them. I pick my subjects, because I have noticed them doing a certain activity that I find intriguing and then try to capture that same action or gesture on film. My actors are not playing a role, they are being themselves–or a portion of themselves. They are playful, absurd, emotional or sexual—all the emotions that pepper my art.

I draw from the American film industry way of creating films, where ‘film star’ personalities are always the same character in any film in which they appear.  There are no surprises when you go see a favorite American film star. You want to be transported by their usual magnetic and truthful screen persona–which is always the same. Great acting is more of an artistic expression–where the actor convinces you that they are someone else. I believe that the ‘film star’ is a more truthful human portrayal than an actor.  No matter how excellent an actor is, they are still acting.

That is why I look to my friends as a source of inspiration and translate that inspiration into art.  There are times when I laugh loudly and inappropriately, because I notice one of my friends in one of ‘their gesture’ modes and I am delighted. I am always conscious of the roles we all play in the stage of real life and often step outside of life-dramas as a viewer, while they are occurring.

I have been asked, “How did you accomplish that?” or “How did you make that person do that?” I explain that the person is being themselves or the “self” that I bring out in them.  I piece together a loose and changeable story line, review it with my stars, create a supportive setting, leave the dialogue up to the stars or direct them to say something while I am filming.

I usually do all my own film shooting and sometimes edit while I am filming, because something occurs to me in the moment or because some perfect lighting or. background change happened. I use inexpensive film equipment to bring an element of ‘snap-shot’ culture to my work. I think super slick color and lighting would throw me off or I’d try figuring out how to make it look less Hollywood.

by victoriadelgadillo

LA Noir

In 2002 I was part of a Maestras (Female Print Master) Atelier called “Upraise of the Urban Goddess”, curated by Diane Gamboa. These series of women master-printers (founded in 1983) includes many illustrious artists, themes and prints. One day there will be an exhibit of these prints, maybe at LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art), because they have suites of every print in this series in their archive.

For “Upraise of the Urban Goddess”, Diane gave us readings from Anais Nin, Diane Arbus, a photo essay from French Vogue called Santa Maria de los Chicanos by Peter Sellars , an essay on Great Goddesses (Chamunda, Kali, Coatlicue, Laussel, Wilendorf),  an article on an 80 year-old woman coping with mental illness in the Los Angeles County jail, the Autobiography of Bette Davis, Home Remedies from Mexico, excerpts from Carlos Fuentes book The Goddess who hunts alone and “A Novice Woman’s Quick Reference Guide to Erotically Dominating a Submissive Man” for our inspiration.

Full View

Full Print View

My print Knowingly Walking Through the Imaginary River Towards Divine Destiny, is about self guidance with help from ritual and intuition–as one travels in a world that is not always what it appears to be.

“Upraise of the Urban Goddess is an open ended concept that positions women in the limelight.  This project is an observance on misunderstood sex in a time of great change . ”  – Diane Gamboa, Curator

“Delgadillo discusses in her print an experience of female intuitiveness and a universality of spirituality, ultimately a meditation for healing.  The central image strikingly reveals the flesh-ness of the woman.  She is composed of colors that resemble the palettes of biological, anatomical drawings.  These colors also draw the eye over the entirety of the body, introducing the details of her face and neck, while slowly down the gaze at her torso and legs, as well as her arms which extend outwards in a gesture of embrace and balance. The candle and the Tarot card in the woman’s hands are gently wielded as offerings to the viewer, yet also to the city in the background. Delgadillo’s image is very much about the physical locale of the city.  As LA moor where the city figures prominently as a character in the narrative, Delgadillo introduces cityscape as an element of the goddess. Yet, over the other shoulder of the woman, we glimpse a row of five hearts on the horizon.  These hearts seem to address the notion of growth and hope for the city and inhabitants, much unlike a noir metropolis.  The hearts and the city are un-trusive to the central image, but are powerful enough details to complete the characteristics of the goddess image and remind the viewer of the urban situation of contemporary spirituality.

Crowned by the sun, or moon, the woman looms forward.  She is grounded in the element of water, energizing her with strength and the curative possibilities of woman and water. The green haze of the sky and pink clouds offer a dreamscape setting, but also call to mind the element of air and smog of LA skies.  The speckled mid-layer of the print creates energy and movement, perhaps of the city and perhaps also of the figure herself.  It is this energy and movement that the feminine force in Delgadillo’s print calls forth.  Speaking to the universality, both of body and of time, the woman’s image conjures notions of the ever present-ness of the female as a source of wisdom and intuition.

The river becomes a figure central to our intuitions and our experiences of the metropolis.  The Los Angeles River is legendary for trickling through the concrete basins along the freeways and through neighborhoods.  Yet, it remains a central figure of imaginings because it is our aqua vitae.  Although it currents diminish to threads, they are threads of history, and threads reminding us of the naturalness of life that continues.  Moreover, the woman walks through this river as a necessary aspect of her being and presence, she has perhaps become the currents of the river, a river that continues through her.” – Martina Melendez, Documentarian

by victoriadelgadillo

Rebelde!

Mixed Media

Mixed Media

My first act of rebellion (according to my parents) was my insistence that my clothes and shoes had to match. I was 4 years old and they were perplexed by my meltdown caused by not being dressed in the fashion I liked. From the closet they pulled out dresses, shoes, socks, sweaters, skirts as I yelled an angry tearful “NO!” or calmer happier “ok” –when the right item was found.  They smiled and he said, “Who taught her about matching?”–she answered, “I don’t know.”

I think my first act of rebellion, was in 2nd grade. Over the summer I befriended a wispy, pale Spanish-American girl named Louise. She was the youngest child of oldish parents and the first USA born in her family. Laughing seemed to make her whole body ache. On the first day of school the kids teased her for carrying a boys’ themed cowboy lunch box. Her short cropped curly red hair, frailness and paper skin made her stand out enough as it was. Quietly she retreated inward, obviously affected by the meanness. The injustice of her becoming a social outcast, because of her parents’ cluelessness, upset me.

After school, my family went shopping, as was our custom. There, I saw the exact same lunch box. Since I needed a new one, I chose the “Gun Smoke” cowboys on horses in brown-orange and blue tones too. At the check-out line there was no judgement on my choice. The next day when Louise and I walked to school and ate lunch together (with our identical, twin, cowboy lunch boxes) the other kids looked at us quizzically saying nothing. We happily ate our sandwiches in the patio and drank our juice from the  thermoses with the guns-drawn theme. Being a rebel felt pretty good.

by victoriadelgadillo

When Art Makes You Go Mad

IMG_0919-1_zps88c6caf9

A few days ago I was reading a blog on how to approach Los Angeles, from a writer that no longer lives here. The writer warned about not looking at Los Angeles like a ‘real’ city, because it is many cities in one; to be open to ‘exploring’; and not to be put-off by the populace constantly networking. He wrote many stereotypes, mostly on his experiences in Hollywood and West Los Angeles–including that one must never to go to downtown LA, its a total wasteland. The blog was followed by one annoying chorus of comments after another–personal stories of evil, pretentious, shallow, over crowded, uncultured, cliquish Los Angeles. There were a few polite notes too, letting the writer know about their small successes in LA, including that downtown had been renovated–fyi.

I thought I would write something clever to squash this love-to-hate fest, but decided to mull it around in my head instead. These sort of blogs and poison penned articles about LA can be found everywhere on-line, some are even horribly racist. I pondered what the real underlying problem was.

Months ago an artist I know went mad, tearing up his artwork, shouting from his studio that he was a failure. He had been in LA for about a year. Obviously, his stay didn’t pan out the way he planned it. After, his family came from Georgia to collect him. This was not my first experience with the thin line between art, madness, alcoholism and drug addiction. I have heard of it happening many times since I have lived in LA. I almost had a breakdown once myself, because I could not comply with all the art demands during an intense moment in my life. Thank goodness for supportive friends who have seen it all and give the sincerest advice.

Many of us in Los Angeles are transplants. We come for the opportunities. I moved to Los Angeles with three friends: an actor, a hair dresser and a musician. Each of us with an artistic purpose and reason to make the big move.  After a few years they each moved back to San Diego, because LA was “too difficult,” “a town without pity,” “overwhelming,” and “too competitive.” Being in my 20s, I was perplexed by their responses to LA, because I found every part of this city exciting, nicely paced, interesting, accessible and stimulating.

I admit that I did not arrive as a big frog from a little pond—coming here to prove that I could capture this city too. I came to learn, to join collectives, to work hard, to be awed and to network with the best of them–and that’s what I’ve done.

Its not about the public transportation, the fake people, not having everything you need within a mile radius, unrequited love, the expensiveness, the shit jobs, not being recognized as amazing, not being rich enough or dressing right—all those imagined reasons Los Angeles fails in many outsider’s eyes.

Its about some Hollywood fairy tale mental expectations, that wind up being unfulfillable. When you go someplace and presume that it should be just like ‘home’ and complain when it is not—who’s to blame for that? That’s what is defined as the arrogant Ugly American syndrome.

Those who belittle Los Angeles usually do not even know this city well enough to have seen or discovered all its richnesses. We true Angelenos love those official written dismissals of this city. Like a venomous spray of Black Flag, it keeps people away and shows the writer/s waving their white flag as they retreat back to their little town/s. Thanks–it means more for us! There is no need to hurt yourself or someone else by going mad, we actually feel bad when that happens. We unwind and meditate during the bumper to bumper ride home each day and feel extremely blessed to enjoy the cruise in LA.

by victoriadelgadillo

Silenced

I created this watercolor painting in 1998. I painted it after my bout with a fibroid tumor that made me menstruate 3 out of 4 weeks each month for a few years. I realize this is a very personal topic and one that is not meant for social conversation. However, in art everything goes, whether you purposefully want it to be revealed or if it appears in your work on a subconscious level.

Once one experiences this tumor and goes through the process–which can be a grave matter or (in my case) a routine operation in our times of modern western science–many friends come forward revealing that they also had one. For most women this tumor represents the inability to procreate. Such was the case when I was recuperating in my hospital bed. Nurses and staff members came to give me condolences and to testify about “their operation,” emphasizing that it should not be considered the end of womanhood. Oddly, my artist friends thought as I did, that it was a relief and a somewhat liberating shortcut to the usual body changes.

Before getting the operation, I tried to deal with it holistically through Chinese medicine. For more than a year, I received acupuncture treatments and would feel better, but the tumor was too pronounced.

In spite of not being a great believer in drugs and extreme medical treatments, I do have faith in a combination of nutritional therapy, ancient medicines and modern science. In our lifetime of urban stress, pollution, bioengineered foods and chemical fallouts, healthy alternatives must be actively sought out.

I created this painting with the help of my acupuncturist Arno Yap. Although a professional can see that the needles are placed artistically rather than accurately, it is a blissful painting of a natural balance of the physical body. This painting has been in storage since 1998, because although to me it is a depiction of triumph, it has been rejected by others. I think because it may represent something else to the viewer, something that was not my intent and that I have no control over. I am use to being silenced, finding out (upon arriving to a reception) that, “there just wasn’t enough room” for my art in an exhibit. I am very familiar with the euphemism.

 

 

by victoriadelgadillo

Take-out Poetry

When the laundromat becomes a stage

There is a series of spontaneous poetry readings happening on the northeast side of LA.  Last night I went to my second installment at a laundromat–it was called Dirty Laundry.  The first reading I went to (this summer) was at a taco shop with The Taco Shop Poets coming in from their various places in California to read and have tacos.  None of the poets last night washed dirty laundry.

Both times I attended, I knew I was going to hear poetry, both times I was surprised by the venue.  In fact, each time I could not figure out the address as I circled the block various times, because I was looking for an art space, not a mom-and-pop business.  After seeing so much art, good and bad, surprises are a treat.

These take-out poetry readings are a gift of Kathy Gallegos, Director of Avenue 50 Gallery and Studios in Highland Park.  Her smile and genteelness welcomes you when she hands you a bookmark printed with the evening’s poetry selections on it.  Great keepsake.

Impromptu poetry reading at the laundromat

As a curator, I am always concerned with the affect of art on an audience.  At the laundromat, like the taco shop, patrons are there to take care of mundane duties, take a break, relax.  As one of the poets said last night, the laundromat is a sacred space, an escape from matters happening at home and a place to think quietly with the impartial hum of machines in the background. I wonder if these poetry invasions cut into the harmony of the environment or if they shake it to a higher level?

Seeing the children scurry under the poets from one side of the room to the other, the loud music score of the Pac-man game start up in a back corner, tipsy men chatting loudly about some bronca, the attendant assisting customers, the poets not skipping a beat–somehow it all worked together.

I looked away from the poets to my right and noticed two elementary school siblings sitting on the bench next to me, quietly listening to words above their age levels.  I smiled remembering my first desvelada when I accompanied my dad to Corona, California to give our elderly tia a surprise mañanitas serenade on her milestone birthday.  I remembered her joy beyond smiles when she came to open her front door in pajamas. Growing up I loved hearing my father play his guitar and my mother sing, it was the home training I received that made me an artist.  I think now, that I would have loved to have heard poetry too, even if I did not understand or expect it.

by victoriadelgadillo

The Sound of Performance Music

Click here and listen:
HareKrishPies
Jeninche and the Jaguars

Drummer du jour [heart], Maria Azteca [crown], Jeninche [green circle], James Brownie [star]

Drummer du jour [heart], Maria Azteca [crown], Jeninche [green circle], James Brownie [star]

It may seem like a weird thing to say, but those that know me will agree when I state here that I have good taste. Mainly it is limited to artistic matters. I have these strong epiphanies about an art concept, a curation, or music–whose familiarity immediately drives me to do extensive research on the internet. My personal understated art business mode is based on a lifetime of being looked at as a gold mine. When a new acquaintance gives me “that look”, I turn down my ability to spew out ideas and am glad that early on in life I learned to say no. I always felt that limiting myself to just one project or idea would keep me from growing as an artist.

In 2006, artist Rigo Maldonado and I curated a two person exhibit at Voz Alta Performance Space in San Diego. We wanted it to be something fun. He also wanted to exhibit some recent photos he had taken on sploshing. Sploshing is a sexual fetish where the participants smash food on their genitals, or collapse naked into food to reach sexual heights. In the case of Rigo’s photos it was dessert sploshing, so we agreed to exhibit art that related to dessert fetishes and called it Aunt Rita Wants Pie. The title was based on a road trip Rigo took with two women with self-indulgent appetites and their semi-comatose aunt who allegedly needed to stop at every road house for pie, “because she was very hungry”.

In addition to our art pieces on the walls, Rigo said he would perform a PG version (speedo and goggles) of sposhing at the exhibit opening. The storefront space lent itself to a live performance in the display windows, and also had a small stage near the back of the room. As Rigo practiced his sploshing at home, it occurred to me that we should have live music. But what kind of music would support our dessert fetish theme? After slight thought, I knew I was ready for something new. That’s another thing, I get bored quickly. I thought, the music would not have to be from a band with superb musicianship–in fact, the rawer, the better– but the band would have to be genuine and committed to the theme.

My friends Jennifer Araujo, Dewey Tafoya and Becky Cortez are fellow vegetarian foodies, artistic dilettantes, community activists and punk music lovers. Based on friendship, mutual interests, culinary concerns, and a hunch, I presented the exhibit concept to them and pronounced that they would be the band performing at the opening. I called them the HareKrishPies.

They took to the invitation like cocoa powder to hot water. While Dewey and Becky industrially composed original music, Jennifer wrote lyrics for the songs about the angst and preoccupation of weight and the love of food. She would be the designated front person in the band. One song, It’s Cheaper to be Fat, was a declaration of acceptance of the delicious American regime of fat-filled, fast-food diets. Another song about the 99¢ Store, praised their inexpensive offerings of cookies, candies and cakes. Each song had a charming introductory story prefacing it, as Jennifer shyly explained her work process.

Usually very soft spoken, sweet natured and chill, Jennifer’s lyric/poetry writing skills impressed on me that she had always been a secret song writer and charming emcee. Dewey (James Brownie of the HareKrishPies), and his GF, Becky from Texas are  experienced with music.   They rocked the backline, and were the techies and roadies all rolled into one. Becky and Dewey laid down some interesting music and so quickly. At each performance they have conscientiously created an elevator-ride rework of their sound. It requires a special talent to write and arrange music, I attribute that to their love of the craft and the crafters.

A few months after Aunt Rita Wants Pie opened, the group performed at a Mexica New Year festival in East Los Angeles. Armed with the same music and an additional song called The Vulture, they reinvented themselves as Jeniche and the Jaguars.

Outdoors on Chung King Road

In September (2012) with a new drum machine, the group was invited to perform at an exhibit called Narcolandia in Chinatown (Los Angeles). Much more performance-band focused, this time they renamed themselves Conjunto L@s Nac@s  (pronounced nah-kohs–or in this all gender inclusive version nah-ko-ahs ), a Mexican slang word to describe the bad-mannered and poorly educated people of supposedly lower social classes. It is equivalent to those who say ‘white trash’ in American English and culture. Narcolandia had a drug trafficking art theme. Dewey was now James Brown of  Conjunto L@s Nac@s

Bandstand on Chung King Road in front of gallery.

At Narcolandia, the group maintained the same song tunes, but with new lyrics related to the current drug trafficking wars. In Crackhead Stole My Purse, Jennifer’s pen is still humorous when she writes about being a victim of petty theft, because drug addiction has its needs. Teresa Mendoza, is based on a Mexican Telenovela drama that depicts the rise of Teresa Mendoza, a young woman from Mexico who becomes the most powerful drug trafficker in southern Spain. In the song, Conjunto L@s Nac@s beg Teresa to drop the high life of drug carteling and think of all the suffering she is causing in the world.

Fans!

 

Above are two songs from the group in 2006. Recorded in a very utilitarian, un-sophisticated way, Becky tucked them into one of her famous CD compilation of her favorite tunes and gave it to me as a gift. The group is 1000 miles away from their beginning, but the original concept of performing at an art show as a three dimensional live performance is bam there. Unless you know the trio, you may not recognize their sound stylings and definitely, you will not recognize them from their newest adopted band name.

Chung King Road

To get in touch with Becky, Dewey & Jennifer email them at djtafoya@gmail.com

by victoriadelgadillo

Art Process

September 25, 2012

Here’s how my print process begins. Step 1 -take a picture of what I want to draw.

Bolsa de Mercado

Step 2,  I translate the photo into black & white (using a basic photo editing on computer)—cropping the view to make it interesting.  My friend Leslie Gutierrez took these pictures below for me. She did it with a Nikon, indoors, overhead lighting, no flash.  It’s hard to shoot plastic (as seen in the color version above)–it can have too much shine and blur the details.

Option 1

In Option 1, there is a hint of the bag. In Option 2, you can see the complete bag.

Option 2

Now I can see the vertical and horizontal lines better in the grey-tone version, and can plot out the separations on acetate sheets. I am doing the color separations old school, hand painting the acetates with ink. These days there is a temptation to create the separations on computer. Sure it’s faster, but then the finished print becomes too mechanical, too slick and loses the artist’s personal touch.

I am thinking of color. Not sure if I will use the original bag colors of red, white and green. I like blues and oranges more. We’ll see. Choices, choices and problem solving–that is art.

November 15. Leslie is so clever, I did not have to take another photo, this is actually the red bag version. Les suggested that I photoshop it to change the color and voila I got this look. Love it!  So above is the color scheme I am going for in my print and the final cropping too. I think you can tell what it is, but it is not so obviously figurative–like when you see the whole bag.  I’m going to start my separations next week.

November 17. Met with the Master Printer and talked MORE about color.  I know color only excites a few of us– it’s an art thing. He gave me a sheet of rubylith to cut my background layer. The background (in orange) will be the first pass of color. He suggested that the colors should be printed in this order:  yellow, blue and then the magenta all in transparent inks so that when two colors merge, they will create a third color.  I love transparent paint! Nice to work with someone that does this everyday. Printing in layers is tricky.

Below I adhere the registration targets to the my transparency sheets. The registrations are used to help align each layer.

November 20.  Thanksgiving slowed down my process. The studio was closed for 4 days!  Right before they closed for the holiday, the studio manager said my blown-up poster model was too pixelated.  He said it would be hard to see the lines well enough on the light table to transfer the design onto the separations. Sighhh. It took me forever to get the bad poster versions done too. Staples could not get them right.  It took them a whole day to print it close enough to the size I needed. A waste of $10 and 4 bad posters. Urgh.

November 27. After a nice Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends—I got back to my image. I was frustrated about it from Saturday to this morning (3 days!) Lots of thinking about my plan of attack. I am not sure if this works for everyone, but when I sleep on matters the very next day I have figured out a plan. I woke up at 4:30am this morning and logically figured out what I needed to do. I have always believed that thinking logically can resolve anything in life, because in the world nothing is 100% one way or another.  I am sure it was something I did, not Staples. After searching for the right terminology, I knew how to ask for what I needed help with. I watched a YouTube videos on the subject and got some good tutoring.  I needed to raise the resolution, lock it in and resize the image to what poster dimensions I wanted.  Que pendeja! So simple. The answers are out there! Actually I do not work on graphics that much, I don’t know what buttons to push. Visual tutorials are my best friends. Finally I got my print model sized into a 30 X 22 poster and printed it at Office Depot. Cost $14. Tax deduction for sure. To make it fit into the correct proportions, I had to change the image a bit from Option 1. Ah ha–but now that task is done and I am REALLY ready to hit the light table and create my hand made transparencies. Exciting!

This is my final design model for my print.

December 5. I have put in at least 6 hours on hand inking my separation for magenta and I am not even done (see what I mean in my image below). Everything that will have magenta in it for my print (including orange and purple) require ink blocking.  Below, my photocopied image has a sheet of acetate over it and I am blocking out the magenta areas with my rapidograph pen. I use a small color image for reference, as I count the lines over and over to be sure I am blocking the right areas. I’ve been going into the studio at 6am in the morning, because I am fresher at that time. I rock the jazz station alone and get into an inking meditation. I guess I could have made it as a comic book inker. In truth, I could have drawn the original image myself, it is a simple rectangle. But I wanted it to have the accuracy of realistic woven fabric and accomplishing that is tedious. Inking all that woven fabric was tedious enough. Usually hand drawn silk screen images are less complicated and “complicated” is my middle name–sometimes.

Me, hand inking

December 14. My artist in residency begins! I have been working on my separations non-stop for over a week now.  I had 3 separations completed–but there are always issues to resolve.  Thinking in print is difficult.  When you are inking the separations, what you ink will be the color, not the clear spaces. Darn! Of course, my first separation was wrong! I did it backwards.  I had to scramble to get my first separation ready on the first day. We could lose a day of printing! The color must be laid down in order. The good thing was that we gained a separation for the color blue, which I had not done yet. Yes, the blocked separation I did for the first day was what I needed for the blue color, with a few tweaks–whew. Glad nothing was wasted.

The master printer burnt the screen with a system very much like photo developing. Since it is done in the dark, I could not take a picture. A green photo sensitive liquid is coated on the silk screen, the ink separation is place below the screen on a transparent glass table.  From beneath, a photographer’s light is lit for a designated amount of time–thereby the separation is transferred onto the screen.

Power washing the burnt screen

Power washing the burnt screen

Above the screen is then power washed to remove the areas that were ink blocked. Exposed are the areas where the ink will be pushed through on the paper with a squeegee. The white areas on the screen are open, the green areas are blocked. Note that the image is upside down. This run will be the first color–a peach shade for the background.

Below, the master printer is blocking any areas that may have been exposed in the wash, to make sure there are no pin holes.

Blocking any pin holes

Blocking any pin holes

Then onto the printing. . . . .

Dec 15 Inking the screen

Dec 15 Inking the screen

Dec 15 First print

Dec 15 First print

Dec 15 Pulling out first print

Dec 15 Pulling out first print

Dec 15 First color "peach"

Dec 15 First color “peach”

Dec 15 Seventy more to go

Dec 15 Seventy more to go

Dec 18 (after the weekend) the 2nd color is "blue"

Dec 18 (after the weekend) The 2nd color is “blue”

Dec 19 Third color is "yellow"

Dec 19 Third color is “yellow”

Dec 20 The 4th color is added "magenta"

Dec 20 The 4th color is added “magenta”

Dec 21 Last color is "black", but it is too muddy. Bag looks dirty and dull. Yuk!

Dec 21 Last color is “black”, but it is too muddy. Bag looks dirty and dull. Yuk!

Dark blue final color. Love it!

Dec 22 Dark blue is REALLY the final color I wanted. Love it!

December 22. Voila! My print is done and just like I wanted. It was loads of work, but so worth it. Could I improve it? Of course, each new subject is an opportunity to learn and each new attempt is an opportunity to  translate your image into something else. I don’t feel my print is an actual copy of the model, it has my artistic flavor through my hands-on drawing/inking, color choices and the elimination of factory woven details.

After the prints are created, the separations and bad prints are destroyed by the studio. Yes! It keeps dumpster divers and thieves from copying and selling the prints. This is true.

My print is a tribute to the working class people that use these recycling bags for everything from grocery shopping to laundry washing. When my friend Becky Cortez saw it –she said “This image reminds me of you!”  Perfect. These types of bags are a reoccurring theme in my art and even though it is a common still life, it is an overlooked powerful icon of our times.

by victoriadelgadillo

Anarchist Book Fair 2012

The 4th Annual Los Angeles Anarchist Book Festival took place this year at Barnsdall Park (September 8, 2012). For the last 3 years I wanted to attend, but there had been an element of disorganization in the form of no advance publicity or firm location, even poor communication flow which impeded someone like me (an advance planner) from attending. After all, LA is a weekly buffet of important events.

I don’t know the anarchist credo, but ambitious scheduling and event planning do not seem to be a part of it–it is more an organic social-mutualism when a gathering occurs. There does not seem to be a drive for amassing or controlling ‘things’, instead there is simple living, healthy eating, love of books, knowledge sharing and a great deal of do-it-yourself-ism.

In 1927, Aline Barnsdall donated Barnsdall Park and her Frank Lloyd Wright designed home (The Hollyhock House), to the City of Los Angeles. The intention was to maintain an active and long-lasting arts center for the community. It was a beautiful setting for the Anarchist Book Fair, which spilled out of its Metropolitan Gallery doors into the park with tables of information, books, zines, food, educational selections, unique political history and autobiographical books, health related appeals, social justice causes, musicians, slogan patches and buttons, handmade jewelry and art. Everything extremely affordable, if not free.

According to the day’s schedule handed to me upon arriving, there was an early morning community set-up of the space, indigenous dancers, lunch, and a preview performance of “The Ballad of Ricardo Flores Magon: the unearthing of radical LA history”. There was a children’s play area in the park, as well as art and craft projects.

Shopping does not interest me. I passed up all the book tables, went straight to the vegan tamale line and to get a big drink of cold water. I think that’s when I lost my friend. Its been very hot in Los Angeles for a few weeks now. We are so spoiled with the weather, that any day not being 78 degrees, seems intolerable. After eating I entered the air conditioned gallery and took a stroll around the ample space. I imagined when this was Aline Barnsdall’s home and it amused me to think that no anarchist would ever want to live in such grandeur. The building has had such an interesting history. I also wondered if the McCarthyists had ever met there to plot against Hollywood. This sort of dichotomy is very intriguing to me.

Looking at the schedule of speakers and presentations, I spotted that the rooms in the gallery had been baptized into names like Emma Goldman Room, Ricardo Flores Magon Room, Buenaventura Durruti Room, Enrico Malatesta Room, Lucy Parsons Room, Voltairine de Cleyre Room and the Makhail Bakunin Room. These rooms hosted such topics as “Class War California-style: Riots, Occupations and General Strikes,” “Imperiled Life: Revolution Against Climate Catastrophe,” “Building Autonomous Resistance through Mutual Aid,” “Political Prisoners in North America,” “The Chilean Student Movement,” “Building Power Movements,” “Police Infiltration, Surveillance and Spying,” “Gender Strike,” “Bike Blenders,” “Palestine Solidarity,” “Anaheim Uprising & Cop Watch,” “Igniting the Revolution within a Sex-Positive Approach to Healing,” “Anarchist Parenting,” “Liberation Healing,” “ Now and Then, the Challenges in Anarchism,” and other impromptu topics not listed.

I spied my lost friend in the gallery, where he dwelled the rest of the afternoon in the cool sanctuary. Later, he even took a turn behind one of the book tables, chatting up the books and making sales. I liked the informality.

After being taunted on Facebook with a barrage of announcements about an exhibit called “Look at These Fucking Artists,” I went from word/concept insulted to realizing that this was the art portion of the Anarchist Book Fair. The title took me aback, and in truth I had to warm up to it. I suppose all new art hits one like a slap on the face, or at least it does to me–as it should be.

There was no physical art on the walls at the Anarchist Book Fair, “Look at These Fucking Artists,” were a series of engaging art discussions. I missed the art talks on “Art Labor,” “Mural Moratorium,” and “Text & Action”. As I was standing in the gallery, a young woman came up to me and asked me to join the next art talk on “Beyond LA Xican@isms,” on the balcony. Hmm–a modern version of “Chicano” with a gender inclusive spelling–I’m there! Each discussion of 12 to 15 people started with everyone introducing themselves and the moderator asking a question to the panel about art and anarchism.

In Xican@isms, Fabian Debora, a visual artist who specializes in gang intervention activism and works at Otis College of Art & Design sensitizing students to political correctness in their art work, said that the art world was more political and complicated than being in a gang. That really stuck with me as well as made me smile.

While others attended art discussions on “Institution of Social Practice” and “Propaganda”, I attended “LA Zapatismo”. Presenter Dr. Roberto Flores, had organized a group of community members in the late 90s for a trip to Chiapas called “Encuentro” (Encounter). The Encuentro was a sharing of ideas with the members of EZLN and LA artists. In the end,  art work was created and based on the concepts learned and shared at the Encuentro. After, Dr. Flores established a non-profit meeting/community space in El Sereno and focused the rest of his discussion on LA Zapatismo as it relates to the challenges of being a viable voice in the El Sereno community without being thought of as ‘problematic‘ to the local politicians, by integrating into the community through majority issue support and by being an “under the radar’ physical barrier to community changes/divisions being planned by outsiders.

Next I missed “Pussy Riot” and “Militant Knowledge” to attend “ Narcos”. Jen Hofer, demonstrated a portable radio studio she and her colleague use to provide translation services at community meetings where there are Spanish and English monolingual attendees. Her group has provided this service throughout Mexico and especially on the US and Mexico borders, because they feel communication is crucial to these national communities. Artist Raul Baltazar was there to speak of his work with the art movement in the United States that is creating criticism on Narcotraficantes. The Anarchist Book Fair being so organic, soon Raul passed the presentation to me and I became part of this panel too. I spoke of my work starting with the art campaign in support the disappeared women of Juarez 11 years ago. Something I (and Raul) had discussed was the Youtube films that cartel’s upload, in which they are torturing and killing innocents and other drug cartel members with numbing graphic violence. At the same time one must note that these films are an artistic process, with their editing, sound selection and graphic titles choices. Raul continues to question if he should be sensitive to the victims by censoring his art, or if he should be brutally honest in his cartel art, even if it (yet again) wounds the victims.

At the end of the day, I attended “MMOOCCAA”, a critique on Eli Broad’s personal hands-on recreation of the art scene in Los Angeles. By appointing key museum personnel who work against the mission of a Museum–i.e. to educate the community about art, he has declared war on the LA art community. Broad and his operatives want to reinvent the museum system into a money making enterprise by curating rave-like art events and featuring east coast artists. This money/power-fueled philanthropy has been interpreted as a hostile belittling of art created in California and the west coast. There were gallery people from LACE and the Hammer Museum in this talk. Interesting that the subject of government supported art should be desired by some of the attendees in this group, as a salvation from well meaning philanthropists. The idea of government control of art as a resolution is contrary to anarchism. Just goes to show that all opinions were valid at the Book Fair.

Next year’s Anarchist Book Fair promises to be even better. The only thing I would change is to make sure to bring my own sack lunch. It was a long, engaging day coupled with humid weather on that balcony—-it would have been good to have a little extra fuel for sustenance.

by victoriadelgadillo

The Zen of Curating

 

Curating an art exhibit is exciting and some days, stressful.  Merging many artists into one anything is a feat.  You’ve heard of the difficult tortured artist? Well think of 50 to 100 artists, each one with their personal needs, schedules, personalities.  Sometimes the best artists have the biggest diva moments.  Yes, even some of your most beloved, down-to-earth, hommie, street artists, have their ego-melt-downs.

Meanwhile, as the curator, I need to maintain a calm poker face which evokes “Everything is fine.  I know what I am doing.  We are perfectly on schedule. Don’t worry, I got this”, to everyone involved. The curator must stay calm.  I’ve even remained calm when featured artists have shown up half-hour before an opening with wet paintings or hours late  for their presentations.  Stressed gallery staff/owners have said to me, “Call your boy. Where is the artist? What should we do/say to the guests? There’s no art on the walls!” By then, there is nothing that can be done but reorganize the schedule, calm the guests and gallery people with optimistic chatter and more calmness.  The later it gets before the artist arrives, the harder the gallery people look at me, like I am a poor judge of artists.

At a certain point, all my meditation and Zen training informs me that once an idea has been articulated—it has its own life in the universe. It is no longer mine. Like any life-form, one can only tend and facilitate an idea as best one can—and without any known formula, rhyme or reason, an idea (exhibit) is going to be what it is going to be.  Of course, one could try and dictate what every little detail will be and when it is not how one imagined, have a nervous break-down—but in Zen, you let go of control. Learning to let go, has amazing rewards and most times matters turn out better than you had thought.  Note that there is a difference between nurture and control.

A few months ago, I attended a lecture curated by Bill Kelly, Jr. who is the 2012-13 Curator in Residence at 18th Street Art Complex in Santa Monica.   I was so lucky to have a moment alone with him before the lecture room filled up.  I asked him if he ever felt like the referee between exhibit spaces and the artists.  He quickly said, “No”, adding that I probably encourage that familiarity with both entities.

This has made me think carefully about my authority rating as a curator.  In the end, I am okay with relinquishing some of my direction-rights in anything I do for the chance of learning new ways and being surprised by them.

by victoriadelgadillo

Sketchbook Tour

sketchbooksketchbook

I’m part of a nation-wide sketch book tour traveling across the US from April – November 2012.  It is being organized by Art House Co-op and will wind up living at the Brooklyn Art Library.  Those visiting Brooklyn, New York can visit the thousands of little sketch books being archived there now, books by artists from all over the world.  It is interesting to be a part of such a huge collection and collective of artists with different skills and interests.

The stop in Los Angeles took place on May 25 & May 26. 2012  at an art gallery in Echo Park called iam8bit .  I didn’t know what to expect, all my communications with the Sketchbook Project people had been on line. I was delighted to enter a foyer at iam8bit of interestingly framed sketchbook drawings that led into a larger room where an impromptu library was erected. Exciting.

After getting an on-the-spot library card at the first computer station, you were asked to go to the next group of computers to request books.  Your order was received on yet another computer (behind the crowd control ropes)  by the library staff.  In a few minutes the staff librarians called out your name and handed you the maximum amount of books you could check-out–2. Books were organized in sections, my section was “In 10 Minutes”. I did not see my sketch book, but got a text each time guests in all the tour cities checked-out my book.

People stood around or sat and enjoyed looking a the sketchbooks that are 4X6 inches comprised of 50 pages each.  I am not an avid sketcher and found the months from August to December of 2011, laborious and frustrating wrapped in self discovery.   The Sketchbook Tour exhibit was  very different from any art event I have participated in.  I liked it!

The Brooklyn Book Library got a cool write-up during the 2012 Sketchbook Tour in The New York Times!  click here

Here are some of the sketches from my sketchbook:

Mixed medium

Blue ink pen

Ink embellished print

Pen & ink

Pen & ink

by victoriadelgadillo

Peel Here Snapshot

(Above) Peel Here 5, a photo from The Dirt Floor Magazine of Victoria Delgadillo’s sticker.

The Dirt Floor was a leading contemporary and underground arts and culture magazine dedicated to surfacing the best of street, underground art, and pop culture in its many forms. Now its a side note here  Sticky Rick curated the Peel Here Adhesive Art exhibit and created Victoria’s sticker from the silk screen print below.

“Vickie (Victoria Delgadillo) always loves a party where the talking is good ’cause the voices  get under her skin just like the funk in the music that makes her body move and her hands follow in a sweet sway in front of her, hands that find their way across a canvas sometimes or destiny’s cards, so they’d tell her where she’s at, though she’s never been no place too long, drifting through age and mind, growing a buddhist’s bud in a shui’ed out potted garden just to see where it takes her, maybe to a psychic surgeon somewhere in San Diego or a third eye convention in space”

..from “snapshots” a series of shorts of my friends by Aida Salazar

by victoriadelgadillo

Asi Es El Mundo . . . .

Eye Speak Tapestry Piece at LAX

Eye Speak Tapestry Piece at LAX

A few weeks after September 11. 2001, I took part in a Los Angeles project called Eye-Speak curated by Joseph Beckles & Jane Castillo.  I was given a 3 X 5 foot area to paint within a 2 week period.  There were 2 tapestries that were 150 feet each, with 115 artists painting side by side.

Bewildered by the events of those days, many of us created artwork that related to the feelings of loss, confusion and impeding war. The painting I did was of a woman, like myself feeling very vulnerable, yet holding her heart together during a crisis.

On January 23, 2004 the tapestry was unveiled in a plexiglass display case lining a ramp for arriving passengers out of the Tom Bradley International Terminal. The second 150-foot scroll was displayed near the terminal’s baggage claim area.  Passengers and some city employees who were offended by the images in my piece demanded that the city remove both scrolls.  The airport officials turned the lights off in the display case to keep it from being seen.

Under pressure from airport officials, the Eye-Speak curators agreed to take down the work.  After receiving inquiries from The Los Angeles Times, airport officials reversed their order to remove the tapestry and decided it could remain through its originally scheduled dates. Officials turned on the lights in the display case again!

Museum Frictions: Public Cultures/Global Transformations (published in 2006) a collection of essays addressing the relationship between museums and globalization, note that the attempted censorship of my painting at LAX was part of the George W. Bush political climate in 2004 which affected many exhibitions and artists.  Today LAX has two screening barriers artists must pass to be exhibited in their community spaces.