LACMA Exhibition Showcases Provocative Artworks Created After the Chicano Movement

LACMA Exhibition Showcases Provocative Artworks Created After the Chicano
Movement
Press Preview: Wednesday, April 2, 10am-12noon

LOS ANGELES, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Phantom Sightings: Art after the
Chicano Movement, on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) from
April 6 through September 1, 2008, is the first major consideration of the
legacy of Chicano art in almost two decades. Unlike most exhibitions of
Chicano art that have preceded it, Phantom Sightings moves away from efforts
to define a distinct identity or style and instead focuses attention on
conceptual strategies that artists use to intervene in public spaces or
debates. Phantom Sightings traces these tendencies to the late 1960s, adding a
new dimension to our understanding of Chicano art history and notions of
ethnic identity, cultural politics, and artistic practice.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080331/CLM175 )
As the exhibition's title, inspired by artist and commentator Harry Gamboa
Jr., suggests, Chicanos have historically constituted a "phantom culture"
within American society -- largely unperceived, unrecognized, and uncredited
by the mainstream. In contrast, Chicano art was established as a politically
and culturally inspired movement during the late 1960s and early '70s,
stressing ethnic pride and political empowerment.
While attentive to this historical context, Phantom Sightings places an
emphasis on a newer generation of emerging artists from across the United
States, many who do not work under the label of "Chicano art." These artists
engage local and global politics, mix high and low cultures, and sample
legitimate and bootlegged sources -- but they do so within a conceptual
framework.
Phantom Sightings will feature thirty-one artists and 120 works, including
paintings, sculpture, installation, video, performance, and photo-based art,
and intermedia works that incorporate film, digital imagery, and sound -- a
number of them newly commissioned for the show. After Phantom Sightings'
premiere showing at LACMA, a tour is planned for the U.S. and Mexico.
Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement is organized by LACMA in
conjunction with the Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) at University of
California, Los Angeles. Curators for the exhibition are Rita Gonzalez,
Assistant Curator for Special Exhibitions, Howard N. Fox, Curator of
Contemporary Art, and Chon A. Noriega, Adjunct Curator of Chicano and Latino
Art and Director, CSRC.
Media Contact: LACMA Press Relations at press@lacma.org or 323 857-6522
General Information: LACMA is located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los
Angeles CA, 90036.
SOURCE Los Angeles County Museum of Art

LACMA Press Relations, +1-323-857-6522, press@lacma.org