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View Winners → Art Column – March 2016
Arcadia Weekly Mar 15, 2016
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“Efigie/Effigy” – hollow wood, strings, discarded/lost clothing. – Photo courtesy of Guillermo Galindo
By Jeff Davis
Border Cantos, a must-see artistic collaboration between renowned photographer Richard Misrach and avant-garde composer Guillermo Galindo is now on exhibit at the San Jose Museum Art through July 31, 2016. (http://sjmusart.org/exhibition/border-cantos-richard-misrach-guillermo-galindo). The exhibit opens a window into the perilous journey of undocumented immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border and is a starting point for a more in depth dialogue about the topic. Misrach’s large format landscape photographs of the imposing border fence, steel barricades, water stations, and border patrol shooting ranges are paired with Galindo’s musical assemblage sculptures. The sculptures are created from items cast off or lost (e.g. worn shoes, empty water bottles, torn jackets, children’s backpacks, and inner tubes used to cross the Rio Grande) by those attempting to cross into the U.S. and waste from those protecting the border including tires used to drag the fence line, shotgun shells ejected during target practice, and even a massive 1.5-ton discarded section of the border fence.
Misrach’s panoramic landscape photographs are both alluring and thought provoking – their gravity pulls you closer. At first glance you see the striking beauty and austerity of the expansive desert landscapes stretching along with the border fence to the horizon; upon closer reflection you start to think about the content and what it means. The metal barricades photo immediately evokes images of the unwanted US troops landing on the beaches of Normandy during World War II; the human effigies – a warning sign – perhaps of risks that lie ahead to those crossing the desert (reminiscent of the forbidden zone from the original Planet of the Apes movie) and the water stations – a reminder of just how risky this trek can be.
Richard Misrach’s “Wall, East of Nogales, Arizona,” 2015 – pigment print. 60 inches by 80 inches. – Photo Courtesy of San Jose Museum of Art
Galindo’s immigration instruments and orchestration of the collection in the music room is what really brings Misrach’s images to life. The room is filled with the sounds of his sculptures, the instruments themselves, mono-prints, and additional photographs by Misrach bordercantos.com. It is easy to just to just stare at the memorizing photographs, however, when you stop and think about all those personal items that were found and embedded in Galindo’s sculptures it make you ask yourself questions. What happened to all those people trying to cross the border? How many of them made it across? How many died from dehydration, exposure or in an accident? Who would leave a tennis shoe or toothbrush behind? How desperate to you have to be to risk your life and your children’s to get to the US?
“Zapatello,” 2014 – found tire, leather shoe, nylon glove, border patrol targets, rawhide, bull horn, horn, and wood. 70 inches by 30 inches by 76 inches. – Photo Courtesy of the artist
None of those questions are answered by the exhibit, however, it highlights many of the issues being brought up in debate by our presidential candidates and those engaged in discussion on both sides of the immigration argument. It is easy to forget we are talking about real people as opposed to just simply a “huge” fence. The exhibit takes one step back and asks, “how did I get here?” Where did my parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents come from originally? Very few of us are true “native” Americans but it reminds of us of how lucky we were to born in this country or to have successfully immigrated. It is definitely worth the trip to San Jose to see this exhibit.
Other Opportunties:
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA: 152 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles. (http://www.moca.org/program/wolvesmouth-taxa).
“Wolvesmouth: taxa A” pop-up full-sensory nine-course dining experience created by Chef Craig Thorton – located in The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Explores the combination of food, art, and music. Two seatings per night will be available on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays starting on March 19 at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., through Saturday, May 14. Tickets are $225 per person, available at wolvesmouth.com/taxa.
Norton Simon Museum: 411 Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626)449-6840. (http://www.nortonsimon.org/visit/).
“Duchamp to Pop,” March 4 to August 29.
Many of the 20th century’s great artists were influence by Marcel Duchamp (1887 – 1968). “Duchamp to Pop” uses the museum’s collection and archives to form to exhibitions to illustrate Duchamp’s influence on pop art and artists Andy Warhol, Jim Dine, Ed Ruscha, and others.
Peterson Automotive Museum: 6060 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (http://petersen.org).
Current exhibits: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily
Multiple exhibits: “BMW: Art & The Art of the Automobile”; “Race Cars for the Road”; “Precious Metal”; “Cars Mechanical Institute” (interactive experience – design your own racecar); “Forza Motorsport Racing Experience” (race car simulation!); “Made in Italy and Howlin’: Vehicles for Nearberg Collection.”
