Bright, colorful paintings representing the Mexican mural tradition have taken over entire walls at the Frontal Lobe Community Space and Gallery on Grand Avenue this month.
The exhibit, a project that is a partnership between the CALACA Cultural Center and Cuervo Studio, is entitled “Wallbound.”
“What I’m trying to do with this exhibition is promote the history part of Chicano muralism here in the state,” said Marco Albarran, co-curator for the exhibit and founder of CALACA, a community arts initiative organization. “I believe history is lacking in some of the history museums and is not taken into consideration until one of the artists dies.”
Albarran helped select the artists and set up the space, with the vision of combining modern muralist artists with those from the’ 70s and ’80s. All of the artists are Arizona-based, although some now live elsewhere.
After the Mexican Revolution in the early 1900s, Albarran said the Mexican government made an effort to revitalize Mexican culture by commissioning a group of artists, poets, writers and more to replenish nationalism into the country, which had just gone through a civil war.
Many of these artists were muralists, including a few who were studying abroad, and were adamant in representing the indigenous people of Mexico. Many of them were invited to cities in the United States, Albarran said.
“At that time, there was no term of Chicano. It was just Mexican or Mexican-American,” Albarran said. “They basically recreated what the Mexican-American community was going to recreate within their own communities. They were representing a social change.”
During the Chicano Movement of the 1960s, Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans embraced the term “Chicano” with a sense of pride.
Most of the mural art depicted individual communities, Albarran said, creating the sense of culture from finite life, including scenes of a prominent figure working in a community.
In the display, there are plaques describing the pieces. But these plaques do not distinguish which pieces are from older artists and which are more contemporary.
“I didn’t want to separate them,” Albarran said. “I’m hoping that once the public comes to see the exhibition, then they can start asking and kind of venture upon themselves as to who the artists are.”
Artists participating in the gallery include Arizona Governor’s Artist Award recipients, Zarco Guerrero and Martin Moreno, as well as several other nationally-renowned and up-and-coming younger artists.
Guerrero said that when he was in Phoenix painting murals in the community, he was one of the only people doing so. He began to learn his craft in San Francisco, and became increasingly interested in the urban mural movement. As a native of the Valley, he noticed a huge demand for mural art in local communities.
“I was kind of disappointed with the amount of people that didn’t jump on the bandwagon (at first),” Guerrero said. “I was very active and trying to encourage other young artists to take up painting murals.”
Guerrero said that other artists eventually came into play, most notably Moreno. Moreno is the co-curator of the Wallbound exhibit and is the founder of Cuervo Studio downtown. He came to Phoenix from Michigan, where he started practicing art 43 years ago, because he was told he could make art all year in Arizona.
“No one told me it would be 120 degrees in the summer, though,” Moreno joked. “But that always intrigued me, that you could create public art year-round.”
One mural painted by Moreno and two other artists – Reggie Casillas and Armondo Williams – featured in Wallbound is entitled “Violence.” It depicts three faces with single tears above a dead man who is being held up by five hands. The artists etched their signatures on the wrists of the hands, as if representing their support of the struggle. The mural is also framed by a deep red scene of skulls and barbed wire
One of Moreno’s passions is working with youth and trying to inspire them to fuel art with their passion.
“There’s many different projects that I’ve sponsored,” he said. “There have always been students that have come around and showed an interest. I’ve always kind of mentored the ones that really seem to be dedicated to the arts.”
Moreno said that during the Chicano movement, powerful and strong social attitudes made it the perfect time for people to harness their artistic talent in all different neighborhoods. He said that many artists received grants and private funding from business owners to create work for communities.
“We liked for the kids in the neighborhood to create the work,” he said. “That way, it would give them ownership and ensure the longevity of the piece.”
Now, about 40 years later, artists both veteran and youth, are still embracing murals as a form of expression in several communities in the Valley.
“Now, it’s very gratifying to see such an amazing art movement going on in Phoenix,” Guerrero said.
The exhibit will be on display at Frontal Lobe until Third Friday, April 25. On April 18, as part of the CALACA Lecture Series and Cuervo Studios partnership, the exhibit will host an evening of conversation with some of the muralists that will explore different historical perspectives of local art.
Contact the reporter at Rebecca.Brisley@asu.edu
