July 1-31, 2015

MEL CASAS: ART ABOUT ART, 1975-1981

San Antonio Public Library Central Library

600 Soledad 

San Antonio, TX

 

Casas made a series of paintings that took art as his subject matter, beginning with Humanscape 74 (Deux Champ Stripped Bare by his Art, 1975), a punning, multilingual reference to Marcel Duchamp and his art. Casas sometimes takes another artist’s style out for a spin, as in Humanscape 75 (Lichtenstein in a Comic Spot, 1975), which employs the Ben-Day dots utilized by Lichtenstein and other Pop artists. In Casas’ painting, a number of women simultaneously call out “Roy!” The artist’s mute reply appears in a thought bubble: “Don’t they know…. I spotted ‘em first?” Casas also addresses the art market and the commodification of art in this series.

 

    by Cordova, Ruben C., Guest Curator, 2015.