By: Kylie Kinnett Photos by: Rachel Benavides
How did you firstbrstart collecting art?
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I started educating myself in art at a very early age. At 11,brI started checking books out from the library. And being raised catholic, I wasbralways in church, and when you are a little kid you think ‘how long is thisbrgoing to go on?’ while you are looking at the ceiling. There are all thesebrpaintings of guys in robes and in the clouds and you think ‘why are therebrarrows in that guy?’ or ‘why are they barbecuing that guy?’ Spirituality and mayhem,bryou know? So, I thought that was interesting and I started studying art. Verybrquickly after graduating high school I was fairly proficient in western art.brThe lack of education I had was in contemporary art, so I went out to investigatebrthat. I started going to galleries in LA and that is how I started discoveringbrChicano artists. I wondered why I had never heard of them before, because theybrwere so good. So, I started collecting them and it was a perfect storm. I knewbrwhat the art was, I had the money to collect it, and I had the celebrity inbrorder to promote it. So, I thought ‘look out world.’
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What is Chicano Art?
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Chicano Art is the art of Chicano’s who consider themselvesbras much American as they are Mexican, with a sophisticated and defiant political attitudebr(which we need).
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What aspects ofbrChicano Art speak to you?
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Well, I am Chicano. But, you know, it really kind of feltbrlike who I was. I never knew how to label myself. I grew up in neighborhoodsbrwhere there weren’t very many Mexicans and so I was always ‘the Mexican’ and I alwaysbrthought, ‘well I am not Mexican. I have never even been to Mexico and I don’t speakbrSpanish.’ I really hated those hyphenated names—you know like Mexican-American, and so finally, when I heard this term Chicano, and I found out what thatbrmeant, I knew that was me. It helped me come into my own in regard to the asceticsbrof my culture. It was me—it was sophisticated and naive all at the same time. ChicanobrArt exists on a bunch of different levels all at the same time. Sophisticatedbrand naive all at the same time. That’s how I picture myself and so it fitbrperfectly for me. These artists are inspired just as much by their grandmothersbras they are by impressionists, and it shows.
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Why do you thinkbrChicano Art isn’t necessarily at the forefront of the art world?
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Well, it takes a push. You know, this stuff didn’t justbrhappen overnight. The wheels of cultural acceptance grind very slowly—if theybrgrind at all. And, everything needs a champion. Pablo Picasso needed abrchampion. There was nobody that was really taking Chicano Art as world-classbrart, but I saw it right away. I knew what a good painting was and I knew thesebrwere.
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So, then how does it feelbrto be a champion of this art?
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Way bitchin’. Really, that’s the best word I can use tobrdescribe it. But, really, it is just so fun. To see a painting by an artist I havebrnever heard of before and be in awe by it—that is something.
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How does this exhibitbrdiffer from the others you have had on display here at the Art Museum of SouthbrTexas?
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This is exclusively Tejano Chicano paintings. So, everybrsingle one of the artists is from Texas and it is a different kind of thing. It’sbra separate category—they cross over, but they are different. It is regional andbrinternational at the same time.
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Do you have anybrfavorite pieces in the collection?
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Oh, that is like having a favorite kid. You know, whicheverbrone is giving me the least amount of trouble at the current time.
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What do you hope thisbrexhibit does for the community here?
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Exposure. I want everybody to get to see this.brMy mantra has been that you cannot love or hate Chicano Art unless you havebrseen it. Because everybody has this preconceived notion of what they thinkbrChicano Art is in their minds, having never seen it, and then they show up tobrthe museum and are shocked. Everyone thinks it is going to just be cacti and mariachisbrand that’s it. But it isn’t, it is sophisticated art and people need to see it.brIf people are shown it, they will accept it.
