Beyond Traditional Customs

 

Beyond Traditional Customs

Contemporary Artists Demonstrate Their Visions of Día De Los Muertos

By: Jamie Solis

Mourning the death of a loved one is typically a sad and difficult time for most; however Día De Los Muertos is a refreshing celebration for the afterlife of the deceased that’s infused with liveliness and positivity. This sacred holiday is celebrated worldwide—though many cultural roots in the holiday stem from Latin American countries, with festivities filled with music, food, dancing and most importantly altars (called ofrendas) that honor friends and relatives that have passed on. Altars are typically adorned with photos of the deceased, flowers and sugar skulls. The offerings of pan dulce, as well as the deceased’s favorite foods and beverages are also common. Incense is burned to help guide the spirits home, while one candle is burned for each individual that has passed. To accompany Riverside’s citywide festival celebrating this meaningful holiday, guest curator Cosmé Cordova presents “Transcending Traditions: Día de Los Muertos | Day of the Dead” at the Riverside Art Museum.

“Transcending Traditions” highlights age-old customs of Día De Los Muertos, while allowing artists the flexibility to interpret what the holiday means to them personally. Made up of artworks beyond the traditional altars that are commonly used for honoring the deceased in Mexican traditions, exhibited cultural centerpieces take on various elaborate and colorful forms. Channeling centuries of Aztecs who have celebrated the remembrance of friends and family members that have passed away, “Transcending Traditions” is comprised of printmaking, ceramics, textiles, drawings and paintings made by artists from Southern California, Arizona and Mexico. While there is an immense amount of diversity within this exhibit, there are undoubtedly recurring themes between unrelated works.

Towering high above your head, a thin and bony skeleton resembling Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas is the perfect greeter, posted just outside the museum’s entrance. This structure of bones, rocking a grin that spans the width of his face, is riding atop a massive bicycle with a frame made out of bottle caps. The artist responsible for this piece is Martin Sanchez—owner of the restaurant Tio’s Tacos. When he is not being praised for his authentic food, he’s known for creating alternative and large-scale art installations like this one. If you’re assuming this giant skeleton is serving a frightful purpose just in time for Halloween, then you’d be widely misinterpreting its presence. There’s nothing morbid or frightening about Day of the Dead decor—the sugar skull represents deceased loved ones. Often decorated with the name of the deceased on the forehead, these skulls are enhanced with bright colors and whimsical designs like stripes, swirls and dots. Like the bicycle-riding skeleton, every piece in this exhibit fuses traditional idols with modern techniques and interpretations.

Two drawings by Antonio Pelayo expose his conjoined inspiration of honoring the traditional Mexican culture associated with Día De Los Muertos, integrated with a modern representation of the holiday. This could stem from the background of this talented artist, growing up in Mexico before moving to the U.S., where he currently resides. One of his drawings, Flores de Muerte, is of a beautiful Latina woman with sugar skull face makeup. The colorless model is holding a confident and sexy pose while wearing a traditional sombrero on her head. While marigolds are known as the flowers of the dead because they’re believed to help the spirits of the deceased find their homes and altars, the artist has chosen to adorn the hat with pink, red and blue roses instead, which add a meditated splash of color to this work of art.

As Catholicism has a strong presence in the Latino community, it is not surprising that religious idols are used by various artists. One example is in an extremely convincing and lifelike depiction of a woman’s eyes close-up entitled The End by Pelayo. The entrancing eyes convey a spiritual undertone for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is the faint cross penciled between her eyes. Beyond that, her wet and fear-struck eyes look as if they are coming face to face with their end. The beautiful yellow, orange and red bursts that resemble fireworks from one right eye that is full of flame while the other eye is mostly white, giving you the idea that she is staring into the eyes of the divine. With her eyes exposing such beauty in their final moments, maybe there is nothing to fear in the end. Another great piece by Carlos Magallanes uses the cross as the focal point, rather than leaving it as an interpretive icon. This commanding, intricate cross with gold detail and a red and black emblem in the center has a strong message of religion as the focal point, rather than leaving this conclusion up to the viewer to interpret.

Whether you find this as an opportunity to connect with a culture that is familiar to you, or a chance to become engulfed in a vibrant celebration that is new and exciting, “Transcending Traditions” will transport you into an understanding that we all have in common—one that values commemorating those no longer with us that have made our life journeys possible.

“Transcending Traditions: Día de Los Muertos | Day of the Dead” at Riverside Art Museum, 3425 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, (951) 684-7111; www.riversideartmuseum.org. Thru Nov. 25. $5.

Originally Published by IE Weekly on October 31, 2013: http://ieweekly.com/2013/10/arts/arts-feature/beyond-traditional-customs/

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

 

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Immortalizing Riverside’s Imprints of “The Golden Dream”

By: Jamie Solis

The golden dream has always existed within the desirous minds of Americans. It’s stated on the Statue of Liberty herself, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” This quote from the sonnet New Colossus by Emma Lazarus has been an anthem of humankind for over a century, breathing the vision of prosperity and freedom from oppression for every person regardless of their race, ethnicity or class. This August marks 50 years since the brave Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King Jr.’s infamous I Have a Dream speech echoed against the Lincoln Memorial. He addressed how the Constitution and Declaration of Independence ensured that “all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This marks an appropriate time to delve into our local ties—to recognize the individuals who made their way to the Inland Empire in hopes for a better life for themselves and their families—a once in a lifetime shot at the American Dream they were promised.

The Eastside of Riverside has always been a mecca for Latino and African American families looking to find success. Many African American military men migrated to March Air Force Base from the Old South, and the commercial areas that line University Avenue are littered with evidence of this—from the historic buildings that tell captivating anecdotes of Southern California’s past to the residents that still recall the importance of those who walked along these streets.

A well respected Riverside native and award-winning writer, Susan Straight, looked around at her hometown and saw that many of the old buildings were burning down and being lost to development. She felt that the stories of those that have contributed to the uniqueness of this city must be told before the chronicles are gone forever.

These vanishing memories are being recovered and immortalized at the collaborative exhibit, “More Dreamers of the Golden Dream” at the Riverside Art Museum. Straight has collaborated with documentary photographer Douglas McCulloh, to expose the populace who has contributed to Riverside’s antiquity. Through overwhelming, large-scale black and white photographs printed on cloth alongside poetic words that express intimate details pertaining to the photos, the viewer is surrounded by the moment that was once passing but is now frozen in time indefinitely.

A photo of two young African American women, Rosie Morris and Alberta Morris Sims, was contributed to the exhibit by the Sims family. While the date is unknown, the sheer volume of the subjects’ hair gives it away—this photo breathes the ‘60s. Another exhibited portrait is of the old school jazz band Edgar Hayes and his Star Dusters. The enthusiastic energy of this quartet from San Bernardino is almost contagious—each of the four men is proudly posing with his instrument to forever leave a positive imprint in the musical minds of many.

Place yourself in front of McCulloh’s commanding image outside Riverside’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine, and you’ll understand why this old church has been cherished by the Eastside Latino community since 1927. This photo of Tony and Sarah Lopez on Ash Wednesday evokes spiritual emotion. It was here that they were married over 70 years ago. Another photograph of this important day of faith uses the repetition of the ceiling boards to draw your eyes along the top of the print until your focus stops at the long cross held by an older gentleman—everyone appears to be deep in prayer.

There is also a collection of photographs highlighting Zacatecas Cafe—an important part of the Eastside since the 1970s. The old colorless images provided to this exhibit by the Medina Family contrast the modern contributions by McCulloh, demonstrating how simple changes are much more evident once compared after decades pass . . . the original hand-painted sign is now illuminating the otherwise dark street corner. Inside, the family atmosphere remains almost unchanged, although the new busy photo is dissimilar to the somber and beautiful photograph that depicted the inside of Zacatecas in the years before, which speaks of a once quiet cafe.

Through this vast collection, it’s important to recognize the brave travelers who came to this region with dreams of a bright future, because without their journey our beautiful region would have the cultural vibrancy present today. We must continue to memorialize imprints of our past before they’re lost forever.

“More Dreamers of the Golden Dream” at Riverside Art Museum, 3425 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, (951) 684-7111; www.riversideartmuseum.org. Thru July 25. Admission is $5.

Originally Published by IE Weekly on July 3, 2013: http://ieweekly.com/2013/07/arts/arts-feature/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words/