San Diego Border and Chicano Art
Two fantastic Chicano art exhibits are currently showing at the Museums of Contemporary Art in San Diego (both the Downtown and La Jolla locations) Laura and I first went to the exhibit Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art on Prospect Street. Most of the collection belongs to Cheech Marin of Cheech and Chong fame who has since stopped smoking pot and started making a strong effort to promote Chicano art and culture. The media and styles of artwork vary greatly and there is something for everyone.
Last week, on our way to the Tijuana airport, we stopped by Downtown’s MCASD right across from the Santa Fe train station for the free exhibit Chicano Now: American Expressions. Compared to its sister exhibit, Chicano Now is much more interactive and offers visitors the chance to become more acquainted with Chicano culture in the United States. Everything from Tejano music to Lowriders to Pachucos are presented in interactive displays.
Chicano culture is a major part of living in San Diego no matter what your ethnicity is. It is good to see that finally Chicano artists are beginning to receive their due credit. Other resources for finding out more information about Chicano art and literature in the San Diego area include:
- Centro Cultural de la Raza
- Voz Alta
- Taco Shop Poets
- Centro Cultural Tijuana
- Local Chicano Author Victor Villaseñor
- San Diego Mexican and Chicano History
- The History of Chicano Park
- La Prensa San Diego
- Local Artist Wick Alexander
- Calaca Press
- Chicano Perk
- Saveourcentro.org
Please feel free to leave any other Chicano related links as comments and I will update the list. Both exhibits will be displayed until September 12th. More information can be found at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego website.
Subscribe to San Diego News
You can subscribe by email to receive newsletter updates:
Subscribe through a RSS feed reader
Joe Crawford said on Thursday, August 19, 2004, 6:34
This sounds really cool Oso … thanks for sharing this one!
Chris said on Thursday, August 19, 2004, 9:13
I’ve found some good links here, they have a good sections on murals: http://www.brownpride.com/
Wick Alexander is one of my favorite artists: http://www.wickalexander.com/paintings/p1.html
oso said on Thursday, August 19, 2004, 9:50
Chris, thanks for the links. I had never seen Wick Alexander’s work before and am really impressed. As far as brownpride.com goes, I really want to concentrate on local san diego artists and projects and it seems their site is more national. I also added Calaca Press, a great independent publishing company in National City.
Chris said on Thursday, August 19, 2004, 16:49
Might also be a good place to link Chicano Perk: http://www.chicanoperk.com/events.html
oso said on Friday, August 20, 2004, 1:00
Done. Yeah, I saw a great open-mic there a few months ago. Perfect place to go after chile rellenos from Farmer’s Market.
Joe Crawford said on Friday, August 20, 2004, 7:48
When Leah and I had our yard sale one of our customers told us Chicano Perk was really cool. I have no idea why we got to talking about it, but it was pretty cool.
Chris said on Friday, August 20, 2004, 9:53
I love their patio. It is like stepping into Costa Rica for a coffee.
Victor said on Monday, August 30, 2004, 1:53
Hello, I see you have a link to the Centro Cultural de la Raza. Please note that there is a boycott of the Centro because of the current administration’s acts of censorship, confiscation of art, destruction of art and exclusion of the Chicano community. For more information, please visit http://www.saveourcentro.org. You can see by the list of people supporting the boycott, which includes Calaca Press and Chicano Perk. Please include a link to the Save Our Centro site so that people can learn about the boycott and how to help the exiled Chicano artist and activist community. La Lucha Continua.
oso said on Monday, August 30, 2004, 11:05
Hey Victor,
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I had read about that in La Prensa and actually commented on it on my own blog. I’ve updated the links. Suerte con la lucha.