This essay is an artist’s statement by the Chicano painter, César A. Martinez, for the catalogue accompanying the group exhibition, Border Issues: Negotiations and Identity, that addressed issues related to the United States-Mexican border and to an individual's identity within a culture. The exhibition included several Southwest Texas artists of different ethnic backgrounds and sensibilities, including Chicano artist, César Martinez. An artist-activist, he was a past member of Con Safo and Los Quemados, two key Texas artist collectives that exhibited as a group. Martinez also served as the art editor for the Chicano literature and art journal, Caracol, many times contributing articles about Chicano art. In this essay, Martinez is the first Chicano artist to redefine a prevalent Chicano art image—the Mestizo—as equal parts indigenous Mexican and Spanish, while making the point that the Spanish heritage also includes African blood. He thus calls into question the overwhelming use of Aztec and Mayan images by Chicano artists. Equally important, Martinez statement defends painting as viable medium for political art, which he defines as art that has a purpose and proclaims painting’s ability to withstand the test of time.
El Mestizo | César A. Martínez
Border Issues: Negotiations and Identity | Center for Research in Contemporary ART (CRCA), University of Texas,
