By Patricia Frischer
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| Marianela de la Hoz |
Being
seen, as has been revealed lately on a mass scale, is a political act. In 1970,
the beginning of the Chicano Art movement, being seen as a woman was not
assumed. Chicana, the women artists, had the tools and the desire to change
that.
Marianela
de la Hoz (SD
Art Prize recipient), Katie Ruiz, Ale
Ruiz Tostado are the three local San Diego artists joining Los Angeles
painters Barbara Carrasco, Yreina D.
Cervantez, Emilia Cruz, Karla Diaz, and Maritza Torres at Mesa College Art Gallery until March 5, 2026. The local artists were curated
by Alessandra Moctezuma joining her selection to that of Sybil Venegas for Avenue 50 Studio in Los
Angeles.
The
Baby Boomers in this group are del Hoz, Carrasco and Cervantez. The Gen x group
is Ruiz and Diaz. The millennials are Tostado, Cruz and Torres.Graphic design and painting of the civil rights movement in the early 70'a, was replace at the turn of the century by a wider exploration of mediums and the popular culture of clubs and fashion trends. As the millennials come of age, issues of gender and identity and inclusion and the effects of a pandemic with ensuing isolation brings portraiture back as a means of healing and self empowerment.
Some of these artists are showing some self-portraits but more often portraying members of their own community. There are many Mexican Americans, but Chicana is a Mexican American woman that is an activist. Chicana Art is Activist Art, then and now.
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| Marianela de la Hoz |
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| Marianela de la Hoz |
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| Marianela de la Hoz |
Marianela
de la Hoz, “I offer an insight into the hidden character of my subject through
visual codes and exaggerated features, using black humor and fantasy to depict
the darker side of humanity.”
The
small scale of de la Hoz’s egg tempera work
demands that you come up close…says the spider to the fly!
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| Katie Ruiz |
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| Katie Ruiz |
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| Katie Ruiz |
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| Katie Ruiz detail |
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| Katie Ruiz detail |
Katie
Ruiz, “My work explores the third culture….that examines the socio-political systems
that created Chicana culture which is both and neither Mexican or US American.”
Watch
for the references to the clothing in her portraits that are then repeated in
the flamboyant elements to her sewn and constructed frames.
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| Ale Ruiz Tostado |
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| Ale Ruiz Tostado detail |
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| Ale Ruiz Tostado |
Ale
Ruiz Tostado, “My work offers warmth and a sense of belonging despite
melancholic or painful expressions.”
Tostado,
like Ruiz, incorporates a whole host of objects attached to her paintings.
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| Barbara Carrasco |
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| Barbara Carrasco |
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| Yreina D. Cervantez |
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| Yreina D. Cervantez |
Baby Boomers: Barbara Carrasco deals with feminist issues issues involving body rights. Yreina D. Cervantez is part of the famous Self Help Graphic Atelier of East Los Angeles |
| Karla Diaz |
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| Karla Diaz |
Gen X: Karla Diaz, co-founder of Slanguage a community based alternative, street-influenced
and installation heavy collective. |
| Maritza Torres |
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| Maritza Torres |
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| Maritza Torres |
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| Emilia Cruz |
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| Emilia Cruz |
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| Emilia Cruz |
Millennials: Maritza Torres is an Xicana who uses the ancient idea of coldex as inspiration to create her own family iconography and uses zines to broadcast the work.
Emilia Cruz is passionate about the rich colors of her culture and depiction of real familiar faces.
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