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Fall
2007
Moving
Cultures (...all over the map)
October 2 - November 21, 2007
Closed November 12, 2007
Reception with poet Norma Cantú October 1, 4-5pm,
with artists 5-6pm.
Check museum hours here.
Artists include:
Michael Arcega, Vic De La Rosa, Kent Manske and
Nanette Wylde, Eugene Rodriguez, Marta Sanchez with
Norma Cantú, Christine Wong Yap
Moving Cultures
is an exhibition of art related to moving cultures,
whether from one location to another, changing/shifting
over time, or changing interpretations. Content
ranges from railroad culture in Texas to contemporary
views of artworld culture, activist culture, and
"American" culture. Artworks range from landscapes
and poetry to interventions, actions, satire, and
cultural Meaning Makers.
Railroad culture in Texas, the Mexican experience,
is the basis for the collaborative prints of artist
Marta Sanchez
and Chicana poet Norma Cantú. The Transcendental
Train Yard series, including serigraphs and
a large offset lithograph, address the history and
beauty of the train yards as a place of work, living
(cargo dwellings) and Vaudevillian troupes that
entertained the Mexican community in song, social
parodies, and circus acts. The colorful print R
cigarro R barril relates to a poem taken
from an old children's song about trains. The poem
was an offspring from the song and is still sung
by folklore singer Jose Luis Orozco. This piece
was one of the first Sanchez and Cantú worked on
and was printed at Philadelphia's Brandywine workshop.
The box set of serigraphs that they have been working
on is being printed by Coronado Studios in Austin,
Texas.
Texas railroad culture is also the basis of a mixed-media
Day of the Dead altar by Eugene
Rodriguez. Early in the 20th century Rodriguez's
grandparents traveled north to Chicago from Mexico,
worked on the railroads, then migrated west to California.
The Journey
pays homage to all who have come to this country
in search of a better life. And Rodriquez goes further.
Through text, he connects immigration and family,
corporate media and globalization, to address "transnational
citizenship, labor practices, and human rights".
Vic De La Rosa,
who innovates with technology and textiles, exhibits
provocative sarapes. His Verbal
Sarape series is jacquard woven. One sarape
reads: "is it
me… or just what I am wearing," words generally
applicable to our times of quick cultural assumptions.
While De La Rosa looks at Texas and other southwest
Mexican migrant populations, he focuses on cultural
assumptions, communication between cultures. Sometimes
cultures cross borders and other times the borders
themselves move, so De La Rosa also considers relationships
to land grabs, reparations, and turf wars.
Michael Arcega
exhibits work from his El
Conquistadork series, a humorous critique
on contemporary and historic issues of colonialism
and cultural exchange. Included are maquettes for
his 10' Manila galleon, made primarily of Manila
folders and successful sailed in Tomales Bay to
commemorate the famed intercontinental trade route
of 1565 through 1815 between Mexico City, Manila,
and California. Also on display is a huge map that
Arcega frames as a tool for conquest. "Historically,
the inhabitants of the drawn maps were unaware that
they have been subjected to one kingdom or another."
And flags, such as a Bear
Arms flag: "an essential tool in identifying
a group from other groups. It serves as a unifying
tool for the group under its banner, but it is divisive
in the same way." Arcega is one of a group of artists
participating in Galleon
Trade, a series of international arts exhibitions
(organized by Jenifer Wofford and Lucy Mae San Pablo
Burns, PhD), seeking to create new routes of cultural
exchange along old routes of commerce and trade.
Christine Wong
Yap also participated in Galleon
Trade. Regalos
is a transit-specific work involving "the shipment
of two empty, glitter-covered balikbayan boxes to
Manila. 'Balikbayan' is Tagalog for 'going home,'
and can refer to overseas Filipinos returning to
the mother country, or the large boxes of gifts
they customarily bring home." Wong Yap relates that
in transit to Manila the glitter eroded from the
boxes, suggesting a trail to home. Also during reentry
to the U.S., the boxes received new markings of
transit, including Homeland Security stickers. "Regalos"
is Tagalog (from Spanish) for "gift". Wong Yap reminds
us that art is a gift, even as she calls attention
to the heartfelt regalos
of the Filipino overseas labor force.
Kent Manske
and Nanette Wylde create a wonderful Meaning
Maker installation with pamphlets to make
sense of our changing culture(s). The American Citizenship
Edition provides a structure for "making the most
of your American experience." "Good for international
travel preparation; mental gymnastics; inspecting
bandwagons; endearing oneself to like-minded cronies;
reinforcing fear, loathing, and patriotism; and
adding spice to conversations." The Art Viewing
Edition and Academic Conference Edition give similar
insights into the art and academic worlds. And this
is just the beginning. The humorous and insightful
works are powerful tools for understanding and evaluating
our experiences.
What began with a story of migration grew to reflect
the cultural complexities of today - where many
of us are have family and connections "all over
the map" - and the resultant questioning of communication,
meaning, and values.
The exhibition was curated by Jan Rindfleisch working
with Nancy Hom, Consuelo Underwood, Christine Wong
Yap, with assistance from Diana Argabrite.
The Euphrat Museum is in an interim space in the
A quad (same location as before) while the design
of the new Euphrat building is being finalized and
construction proceeds.
The Euphrat Museum of Art is funded in part by Arts
Council Silicon Valley, and by an Applied Materials
Excellence in the Arts grant and an Adobe Systems
Inc. grant, both in partnership with Arts Council
Silicon Valley.
A new website is under development and will be up
and running sometime in Fall 2007.
For events connected to the exhibition, call:
Jan Rindfleisch
Director of the Euphrat Museum of Art
E-mail: rindfleischjanet@fhda.edu
(408)864-8836
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