June 5-Oct. 24, 2015

GETTING the BIG PICTURE: Political Themes in the Art of MEL CASAS, 1968-1977

The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center

723 South Brazos St.

San Antonio, TX

 

Casas is best known for a handful of paintings with Chicano themes, such as Humanscape 65 (New Horizons, 1971) and Humanscape 68 (Kitchen Spanish, 1973), which have been featured in many traveling exhibitions. This exhibition provides a full view of Casas’ politically-oriented art, including anti-war paintings and oblique commentaries on Nixon-era politics, censorship, and racial discrimination. Some of these works received considerable exposure soon after they were painted: Humanscape 70 (Anatomy of a White Dog, 1973) was in the 1975 Whitney Biennial, and Humanscape 67 (Ellsberg the Pentagon’s Mocking Bird, 1972) was illustrated in a Roberta Smith article that appeared in Art in America in 1976. This is the first exhibition to focus on Casas’ political paintings.

 

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