Xican–a.o.x. Body is co-curated by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Marissa Del Toro and Gilbert Vicario, and organized by The American Federation of Arts (AFA).The exhibition inaugurated at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, CA: June 17, 2023 – January 7, 2024. It will tour to the Perez Art Museum, Miami in June 2024.
Xican–a.o.x. Body ha sido co-curada por Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Marissa Del Toro y Gilbert Vicario y es organizada por The American Federation of Arts (AFA). La muestra inauguró en The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, CA: 17 de junio de 2023 – 7 de enero de, 2024. La muestra se presentará en el Perez Art Museum, Miami en junio de 2024.
Xican-a.o.x. Body
The exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts with Cecilia Fajardo- Hill, Gilbert Vicario, and Marissa Del Toro. It is presently slated to open in 2023 at the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry, Riverside CA (touring show).
Xican–a.o.x. Body is the first major exhibition to examine hugely influential works by artists who foreground the Brown body as a site to explore, expand, and complicate traditional conceptions linked to Mexican, Mexican American, and Xicanx experiences. A multidisciplinary project, the show features approximately 125 artworks from the late 1960s through today by about seventy artists and artist collectives. The pioneering art in this groundbreaking exhibition reveals a rich tapestry of realities through an installation encompassing experimental works in diverse media—from lowrider cars, poetry, and pottery to painting, photography, sculpture, and film. Many of the artworks are political and social in nature. They are also persistent, confrontational, mournful, joyous, and playful, and serve as affirmative declarations of self-identity and innovative artistry.
Shining new light on traditionally overlooked and underrepresented artists who are shaping contemporary art, the exhibition emerges at the intersection of vanguard artistic practices and the notion of Xicanisma, a vital and inclusive concept that developed in the 1990s out of the historical lineage of the 1960s Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Xicanisma amplifies the original Chicano calls for self-determination of ethnic, political, and cultural identity through greater acknowledgement of indigenous roots, intersectional identities, and feminism. While the multiplicity inherent in this term is central to the project’s organizing conceit, the exhibition proudly includes the work of artists who identify in myriad ways—including as Mexican American, Chicana/o, Xicanx, Latinx, and Brown.
Xican-a.o.x. Body is organized into thematic, multidisciplinary sections that offer expanded understandings of Xicanx experiences—and Latinx ones more broadly—as well as of contemporary visual culture in the United States. One section explores the feelings of Brownness and Nepantla, or in-betweenness; another section looks at the tension between erasure and displacement in contemporary art and society. In a section on networks of affectivity, artworks convey the solidarity, affection, and shared feelings of belonging within communities that embrace decolonized and embodied difference; and a neighboring section is devoted to performance art and considers how the body is often activated as a site of political and social activism in the works of artists and artist collectives. A fifth section of the exhibition complicates understandings of popular Xicanx culture; and finally, the exhibition breaks new ground in a section that highlights the role of Xicanx artists in the creation of some of the most original and radical forms of feminist, LGBTQ+, and intersectional art of the last fifty years.
A response to a crucial moment and an important long-marginalized history, Xican-a.o.x. Body centers the rich, diverse voices of frequently overlooked and underrepresented artists who employ the body—both physically and conceptually—as an active and affirmative element of Xicanx culture and self-representation.
Wall title: Patssi Valdez, stills Hot Pink, 1980-1983
Co-curators of exhibition: Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Marissa Del Toro and Gilbert Vicario
Wall title: Patssi Valdez, stills Hot Pink, 1980-1983
Left to right: Sections Nexus and Networks: Shizu Saldamando, Alma Lopez and Delilah Montoya
Disrupting Social Space/Disrupción del espacio social: Good Time Charlie, Chuco Moreno, Water Thompson, Mario Ayala rafa Esparza Dis-identify and Re-imagine/ Des-identificar y re-imaginar: Celia Álvarez Muñoz
Section: Charlie Cartwright aka Good Time Charlie, Chuco Moreno, Water Thompson, Mario Ayala, rafa Esparza, Liz Cohen, The Q-Sides, Ricardo Valverde. Foreground: Celia Álvarez Muñoz
Sections Disrupting Social Space/Disrupción del espacio social: Mario Ayala rafa Esparza, Liz Cohen, The Q-Sides, Ricardo Valverde.
Dis-identify and Re-imagine/ Des-identificar y re-imaginar: Center: Celia Álvarez Muñoz/ Background: Sebastian Hernandez, Judith F. Baca, Fabian Guerrero, Diane Gamboa, Teddy Sandoval
Section: Foreground: Cyclona
Section Dis-identify and Re-imagine/ Des-identificar y re-imaginar: Center: Celia Álvarez Muñoz/ Background: Sebastian Hernandez, Judith F. Baca, Fabian Guerrero, Diane Gamboa, Teddy Sandoval, and José Villalobos
Nexus and Networks/ Nexos y redes: José Villalobos, Julia Barbosa Landois, Nao Bustamante, The Q-Sides, and Patssi Valdez.
Ms. Vaginal Davis, Cholita, 1995
Section Brown Commons: Foreground José Villalobos, Salomón Huerta.
Section Brown Commons foreground left boots: José Villalobos, Foreground center: Piñata car, Justin Favela
Nepantla (Background wall): Richard A. Lou, Celia Herrera Rodriguez, Frances Salomé España and Laura Aguilar
Section Brown Commons. Foreground: Piñata car: Justin Favela; and Nepantla left wall, Left to right Richard A. Lou, Celia Herrera Rodriguez, Frances Salomé España and Laura Aguilar
Section Brown Commons: Left to right: Justin Favela, John Valadez, Barbara Carrasco, Gabriela Muñoz Ariana Brown, and Yolanda Lopez
Section Brown Commons: Foreground Sylvia Salazar Simpson
Section Nepantla: Foreground Celia Herrera Rodriguez.
Section Brown Commons background: Salomón Huerta, Jay Lynn Gomez, Walter Thompson-Hernández, John M. Valadez, James Luna, Patrick Martinez and Salomón Huerta
Section Nepantla: Left to right Richard A. Lou and Celia Herrera Rodriguez
Section Nepantla: left to right: Celia Herrera Rodriguez, Frances Salomé España and Laura Aguilar
Section Brown Commons: Christina Fernandez, Kathy Vargas, Patssi Valdez, Asco, and Diane Gamboa
Foreground: Celia Herrera Rodriguez and center Justin Favela
Section: Nepantla left to right: Frances Salomé España and Laura Aguilar
Background Brown Commons: Alma Lopez, Christina Fernandez and Kathy Vargas
Sections Brown Commons and Nexus and Networks: Alma Lopez, Christina Fernandez, Kathy Vargas, Patssi Valdez, Asco, and Diane Gamboa
Section Nexus and Networks: Asco
Sections Brown Commons and Nexus and Networks: Alma Lopez, Christina Fernandez, Kathy Vargas, Patssi Valdez, Asco, and Diane Gamboa
Sections Resilience and Radical Violence: Left to right: Marcos Raya, Camilo Cruz, Narsiso Martinez (foreground), Back wall: Patrick Martinez, Salomón Huerta, Malaquias Montoya, Natalie Diaz, and Sandra de la Loza
Radical Violence/ Violencia Radical: left to right: Patrick Martinez, Salomón Huerta, Malaquias Montoya, Natalie Diaz
Section Radical Violence: Isabel Castro, Adriana Corral, Artemisa Clark, Marcos Raya, Camilo Cruz, and Alex Donis
Sections Resilience and Radical Violence: left to right: Linda Vallejo, Maria Gaspar, William Camargo
Background: Ken Gonzales-Day and Sandy Rodriguez. Foreground: Narsiso Martinez
Section Radical Violence: Ken Gonzales-Day and Sandy Rodriguez
Section: Resilience/Resistance/ Resiliencia/resistencia: left to right: Patssi Valdez, Yreina D. Cervántez. Linda Vallejo, Maria Gaspar and William Camargo
Section Generating Pop / Sharing Vernacular/ Generando el Pop / Compartiendo lo vernáculo: Left to right: Mel Casas, Patrick Martinez, Luis Jimenez, Marcos Raya, Enrique Chagoya, Esther Hernadez, Sylvia Salazar Simpson and Tamara Santibañez (Foreground case)
Section Generating Pop / Sharing Vernacular/ Generando el Pop / Compartiendo lo vernáculo: Background: Gaby Ruiz, Alfonso Gonzalez Jr. Tamara Santibañez (Foreground case). Foreground: Sylvia Salazar Simpson
Right: Mel Casas and Luis Jimenez
Section Foreground Sylvia Salazar Simpson, left to right: Mel Casas, Patrick Martinez, Luis Jimenez, Marcos Raya, and Enrique Chagoya
Section Generating Pop / Sharing Vernacular/ Generando el Pop / Compartiendo lo vernáculo:
Gaby Ruiz and Alfonso Gonzalez Jr.
Section Generating Pop / Sharing Vernacular: Foreground: Tamara Santibañez
Background: Barbara Carrasco
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/X/bo207623948.html
The catalog for Xican-a.o.x. Body will be published in November 2023. El catálogo de Xican-a.o.x. Body será publicado en Noviembre de 2023.
https://www.amfedarts.org/xican-a-o-x-body/
| Southwest Contemporary | https://southwestcontemporary.com/xican-a-o-x-body/ | Xican-a.o.x. Body |
| LA Art Documents | https://youtu.be/0s402dXlJDc?feature=shared | Xican-a.o.x. Body |
| EMS Arts Films | https://youtu.be/f0B7BQo3tEQ?feature=shared | Xican-a.o.x. Body |
| EMS Arts Films | https://www.instagram.com/p/Cvc444NpFj5/ | Xican-a.o.x. Body |
| LA Art Documents | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MlA0m1s7EFL626KljLwvCfXfPnuWg99V/view?usp=sharing | Xican-a.o.x. Body |
| K-ART NOW | https://k-artnow.com/xican-a-o-x-body-in-riverside-talks-about-people-of-mexican-descents-in-usa-2/ | Xican-a.o.x. Body |
| Hyperallergic | https://hyperallergic.com/825609/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-june-2023/ | Xican-a.o.x. Body |
| Culture LA | https://culturela.org/event/xican-a-o-x-body/2023-09-15/ | Xican-a.o.x. Body |
| BusinessWire (+ 200 media) | https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230616421886/en/Riverside-Art-Museum-Celebrates-First-Year-Success-of-The-Cheech-Marin-Center-for-Chicano-Art-Culture | Xican-a.o.x. Body |
Preview YouTube video Xican-a.o.x. Body at the Cheech Museum in Riverside
Preview YouTube video XICAN A O X BODY AT THE CHEECH MUSEUM
Conversations with a Curator: Chicanx Art from the 1970s to the Present.
Marissa Del Toro, Cecilia Fajardo-Hill and Gilbert Vicario, AFA, October 15, 2020
https://www.amfedarts.org/chicanxart/
Isabel Castro
From the Women under Fire series, 1980. Mixed media, scratched and dyed slides printed on Xerox.
Courtesy of the artist.
Ken Gonzales-Day
Second Garrotte, CA. 2014, printed 2021
Searching for California Hang Trees Series (2002 – ongoing)
archival ink on rag paper
Courtesy of the artist and Luis de Jesus Los Angeles
Narsiso Martinez
Magic Harvest, Ink, Charcoal, and Gouache on Found Produce Boxes
71 x 23.5 x 16 inches, 2019.
Courtesy of the artist and Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles.
Photo: Michael Underwood
Ricardo Valverde
Boulevard Night, 1979/1991
Gelatin silver print with hand-applied pigment, 12 x 15 in.
Courtesy Esperanza Valverde and Christopher J. Valverde
Patssi Valdez
Hot Pink, 1980.
35 mm film that has been digitized, color, and sound.
5 min. 45 sec. Courtesy of the artist.
Shizu Saldamando
La Gabbi Leather Papi, 2018.
Oil, mixed media on wood panel, 36 x 47 in.
Courtesy of the artist and Charlie James Gallery Los Angeles.