La Tinta Grita/The Ink Shouts:
The Art of Social Resistance in Oaxaca, Mexico
The Fowler Museum’s Goldenberg Galleria
July 20 - December 7, 2008
In an act of political expression during duress, artists from Oaxaca made city walls their voice during social conflict in Mexico in 2006. The result is the new exhibit at the Fowler Museum, over thirty wood block prints and stencils created by a group who call themselves the Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaca.
La Tinta Grita/The Ink Shouts: The Art of Social Resistance in Oaxaca, Mexico is a deeply rooted in the politics of Mexico, especially since its art was created under the confines of a state that restricted public demonstrations. Mexico has a long history of politically motivated artistry. Diego Rivera is given credit for the âMexican Mural Renaissance,â along with Jose David Alfaro Siqueiros and Francisco Toledo. One thing that separates these wood cuts from a Rivera mural is that the presence of the master artist is intentionally absent, as Assembly artists remain anonymous. Obviously, this is a safety precaution to avoid persecution, but also because Assembly artists wanted the works to fully speak for themselves, and for the voiceless people of Oaxaca, and not have the message complicated by concerns of what a particular artist âintended.â
The goal of the works is to raise consciousness about the oppression which the works themselves combat in their very creation. They also function as documentation of a social reality that is likely overlooked by the rest of society. While some of the works proudly recall the sentiments of Mexican Revolutionaries such as Emiliano Zapata, other wood cuts contrast such fame with the infamy of figures like Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz who was significant in the deterioration of the state into street demonstrations and oppression.
Zapata is a fairly familiar name to an oblivious American, but the fact that such a grave degree of state-sanctioned suffocation was occurring in Oaxaca was (regrettably) news to me, making the very mission of this exhibit more than justified. The Fowler Museum is on the UCLA campus, and is focused on cultural art, making it ideal for a show attached to such a purposeful social message.
The Fowler Museum is open Wednesday through Sundays from noon to 5p.m. (Thursdays until 8p.m.), and is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Admission is free.
Image courtesy of the Fowler
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