"Icons and Symbols from the Borderland" at the James Museum

"Hombre Que le Gustan las Mujeres" by Cesar Martinez (2003)

The James Museum is now home to a special exhibit entitled "Icons and Symbols from the Borderland: Art from the U.S.-Mexico Crossroads." Try and say that three times quickly! 

The exhibit includes works in a variety of media that "explore the shared experiences of those living and working along this controversial landscape." So while the exhibit is thematic, it has a broad scope. Let's start with Cesar Martinez' "Hombre Que le Gustan las Mujeres" (or "Man Who Likes Women.") It definitely caught my eye. 

This gentleman seems to indeed like all sorts of women, from a religious icon to a traditional senorita to a woman who forgot to get dressed that morning. The artist explained, "What started out simply as a painting of a man with tattoos ended up developing into a statement about macho attitudes towards women." I like his use of humor. For Martinez' website (officially titled "Cesar Martinez and Chicano Art"), click here. His explanation of what it means to be Chicano begins with a story from a conversation he had with Cheech Marin. He definitely knows how to draw people in. 

"Pancho Villa en la Frontera"
by Socorro Diamondstein (2014)

Socorro Diamondstein's "Pancho Villa en la Frontera" has a more serious tone. The work features Pancho Villa and Pascual Orozco around the time they seized control of the city of Juarez during the Mexican Revolution. But Villa had larger ambitions. In 1916, Villa and his men made an incursion into Columbus, New Mexico. It remains the only attack ever made by Latin American military forces on the United States. Nearly 100 Mexican soldiers and two dozen Americans lost their lives in the battle. 

I was surprised to learn that Diamondstein has a personal connection with this slice of history. The images of Villa and Orozco in this work came from original negatives of photos taken by her grandfather. Very cool. 

I haven't been able to find much information about Diamonstein, but I did learn that she double majored in political science and art. She also worked at the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department. She has clearly incorporated her interest in politics in her art. To see more of Diamondstein's mixed media work, click here. 

"Ninos de Algadon" by Gina Gwen Palacios (2021)

"Ninos de Algodon (Cotton Kids)" by Gina Gwen Palacios is another work that's personal to the artist. Even in this photo, you can (hopefully) tell that this is a mixed medium piece. The children's clothing is made of cotton. But Palacios hasn't used cotton balls like you'd buy at the drugstore. Instead, the material looked to be raw cotton to my uneducated eye. 

There's of course a reason why she chose to use this unusual medium for the piece. "Ninos de Algadon" was created in remembrance of the stories her parents' told her about their time as migrant workers picking cotton in South Texas. Not surprisingly, they faced significant discrimination. They were punished for speaking Spanish. Their names were Anglicized. They were even forced out of school and into the fields. The stories are reminiscent of the treatment of Indigenous children who went to residential boarding schools. And of course they bring to mind the current political discussion about immigrants and the issues surrounding the border.

It's also worth noting that Palacios used cardboard for the children's faces and limbs. This choice of medium does more than represent their brown skin. Cardboard is also readily available, strong, adaptable, cheap and disposable. It's a simple yet powerful statement about migrant workers and how they are often treated. For more of Palacios' work, click here.    

Detail from "Moctezuma's Revenge" by Mark Clark (2017)

I'll leave you with a small portion of a jampacked - and politically charged -- painting by artist Mark Clark. The work was done by Clark when he lived in Brownsville, Texas and ran an art gallery that was "spitting distance" from a newly built portion of the border wall. Click here to see the entire work. Once you've done so, you won't be surprised to learn that this painting was inspired by the work of Hieronymous Bosch. Think "The Garden of Earthly Delights." 

Clark calls this painting "the depiction of every gringo's worst fears." The wall has been breached and crime runs rampant. Non-white people are now employed in jobs as disparate as astronaut, CEO and carpenter. Religion has fallen by the wayside. Even good old Mickey Mouse is no longer part of the culture; instead, he's being burned on a spit. It's no surprise that Clark created this work a year after Trump took office. 

Clark is also an activist, and it was in this spirit that he used the border wall as a pop-up art gallery on two occasions. The exhibits were aptly titled "Art Against the Wall." Clark didn't obtain a permit for either of the exhibits, and it took only a matter of hours before Border Control was on the scene, complete with bulletproof vests and guns. The art was taken down without protest, a response that apparently surprised the agents. Though short-lived, the exhibits made their impact on the participating artists and those who wandered by. For an interesting article about artists (including Clark) who have used the border wall in -- or as a space for -- their art, click here. 

"Icons and Symbols from the Borderland" will continue at the James through January 19th. It's an exhibit well worth exploring. For more information, click here.