Carlos David Almaraz

An Aesthetic Alternative

I propose an art that is not private property. An Art that will make other artists aware of their real duty as human beings.

I propose an art that is not only an inspiration and an education, but also an art form that is aggressive and hostile toward present bourgeois standards.

I do not believe in "quality" because it is only a monstrous device by which those who can afford "quality" rule those who cannot. "Quality" benefits collectors and museums, not artists. It enslaves artists.

I would like to see quality replaced with quantity-in a true dialectical fashion-this will devaluate the art object and make masterpieces obsolete. There will thus be nothing really unique in art and, hopefully, no art history as we know it.

Presently, for Chicanos and all working-class people, art must be made more than just a matter of cultural identity. It must be destructive. (Better here than on the street). El grito must be heard around the world. It must be loud and con mucho fuerza.

El enemigo no es el gabacho, mas bien es su BankAmericard, su swimming pools, su arte, y sus guerras que esclava el mundo. Pero se le esta acabando su fuel y como dice la cancion: La cucaracha.. ya no puede caminar porque no tiene marijuana que fumar.

Nosotros, Los Chicanos, live in the stomach of el monstro aqui le vamos dar mucho gas para que quando eche su pedo se le rompa su fundio! Que no?

I used to believe that intellectuals had it together and that workers and campesinos were dirty. But now I am beginning to see As I am beginning to know workers and campesinos that in reality, it is [the] bourgeois who are dirty. Intellectuals...they do not like our way and make it seem shabby. But it is really their way, their system that is hopelessly in error. They have enslaved us with television, the english language and their credit system. And we continue to support it. BASTA! Que se vayan la chingada! El Movimiento is our only hope! The movement is in the factories, in the fields and in our homes.

The artist must be part of it. He must make an art that is cheap, simple but alive and relevant! An art for gente who can't afford art-like a corrido. An artist should not need a studio. His studio should be in his pocket, on the sidewalk and in his mind. Lets make an art that is not only for ourselves, not for museums, not for posterity, and certainly not for arts sake, but for mankind! Lets make art that will cause a disturbance, [a] row, and even maybe a small revolution!

C.D. Almaraz Muralist C/S '74

Art Collection of Guillermo A. Bejarano

Contact Info: artxchange

L.A. Cowboy (artwork for billboard on Sunset Blvd. LA) commissioned by the City of Los Angeles Municipal Arts. watercolor on paper, 40 x 22. 1/14/72 $8,000 SOLD

Untitled pencil on paper 25 x 20 5/1971. $5,000

Echo Park 4:00 pm pastel 25 x 19 (First in the EP series) $12,000

UFW ink on paper. 8" x 10" $1,000
Unsigned

C.A.P. Centro de Arte Popular, Highland Park/LA. ink on paper 8" x 10" $1,200 Unsigned

ORCHESTRATION of FIVE COLORS, watercolor on grid-paper. Image size: 21" x 7.5" Paper size: 22.25 x 9.5 inches. Signed 05.21.71. Non-commissioned City Mural Art Project--LA.