| Chicano Murals
Mexico has had, since pre-Columbian civilizations a renowned heritage of permanent, public art. As a matter of fact, much of what is known of the indigenous population of Mexico before the so-called "discovery" is that which is found carved into walls of temples, pyramids and other public buildings. These places have become national monuments which are protected and cared for by the public and private concerns. In this way the people have preserved the culture that was, and still is, Mexico. After the arrival of the Spaniard, Indian art of this magnitude ceased to be produced. Religious power change hands, and the temple carvings and pyramids became a thing of the past. But public art was not gone forever. With the gradual mingling of race, Spanish and Indian synthesized to become a single entity, the mestizo or Mexican. The emergence of this new culture brought forth a revolution in almost every phase of life, including art. Instead of catering to the interest of a small elite, art was now for the people. It became an expression of identity of the new Revolution and a new man. Murals began to cover walls of government buildings, museums and universities. Great artists like Orozco, Rivera and Siqueiros (Los Tres Grandes) became the trademark of this new art form that blended Spanish and ancient Indian into Mexican, and into a future concept of humanity. Today in the Southwest United States, Mexican Americans have become recognized as a culturally rich and unique people. An emergent expression of this unique identity is seen in the spread of Chicano murals. Painted on stores, hospitals, universities and numerous other public and private buildings, these murals relate the experiences, hopes and aspirations of the Mexican American people. They call out specific and universal themes of equality, brotherhood and progress which are rooted in humanistic and spiritual understandings. The mural are a message for all people, a message and an art form that will last and become a part of our own culture here. Source: Centro de Arte Popular (Public Art Center) Los Angeles, CA: archives, 1976.
Los Murales Los murales,
huesos y sangre del barrio,
walls lleno con corazon,
la historia streaked across
ghost canvas,
colores brillantes,
amarillos ~ sol,
azules ~ cielo,
rojos ~ sangre,
eternal piel de Bronce,
los murales hablan revolucion,
cambios,
hablan como los gritieros de justicia,
con gritos
como golpes
against racism,
manifest destiny y los conquistadores
disappearing into the dust of greed,
los murales cantan from SacrAztlan to El Chuco,
Eas Los to San Pancho,
San Anto to Chicano Park,
they move east como el sol,
turn cold Chicago winters
into la primavera,
the ninos dance after los artistas
using their wings for brushes,
kissing a bare wall con suenos,
las escenas cover bancos,
las escuelas,
puentes and dying buildings,
they climb fences,
lay along walls of despair,
mariposas that ride shoulders of Aztec warriors,
fly con Quetzacoatl,
march con banderas,
fists fill the air,
flow off walls
into la calle triste,
claim las sonrisas
that belong to Aztlan,
con safos appears as protector
to these color filled dreams,
shouts the permanence of this lucha,
las escenas wrap around el barrio,
move out to the city,
sing la historia,
los artistas ride las calles
searching for bare wall
to breath into,
layers of paint expand the city,
push against el cielo,
touch rain como lagrimas,
caress la luna,
juegan con el sol,
call for a rainbow,
paint turns to sangre,
to paint, to sangre,
liquid love de muralismo,
scaffolds climb empty walls,
complicated webs
assaulting hungry space,
clear face of birth,
waiting for
explosion de la vida rica,
form of spirit
that burns darkness
from eyes of broken hearts,
los muralistas paint into la noche,
la luce is called
to serve la causa,
sending sombras
como aguilas
against a night sky,
space is measured con manos y ojos,
linas de ayer
shimmer a new voice,
cries for freedom,
charm la gente
with their seductive dance,
communities appear with critical eye,
"too political ~ too tame,
que suave ese mural,"
C/S
~ con safos sits in mural's lower corner,
with its menacing face,
demanding respect,
offering retribution to careless,
would be muralists
looking for a home,
colores take over the wall,
claim its surface with protest and proclamation,
reverence y orgullo,
los artistas jovencitos
are taught to plant semillas
along plaster and brick,
empty fields de la ciudad,
their eyes grow wide,
break limits of vision,
walk thru phantom borders,
their souls grow wings,
break limits of flight and space,
eager to see their own voices,
everyday travelers
celebrate the progress,
become involved,
their minds turn to brushes,
they wait breathlessly
for completion,
others pass with hate,
their minds become executioners,
they wait breathlessly for destruction,
which does not exist
for the faith de La Raza,
sometimes murales perish,
painters con ojos blancos,
drink los colores in greedy thirst,
empty space pleases their dying spirit,
bulldozers level el barrio,
you can hear las lagrimas
of wounded blood,
breaking against metal,
ruptured canvas,
shattered concrete
that avalanches Chavez y Huerta,
Zapata y Che,
disappears Maya, Toltec, Aztec,
folds new dreams
into hard earth,
where they lay in silence,
until they burst forth
along walls
meant to entomb them,
la lluvia washes mural history,
el sol kisses it with burning eye,
time places her own strokes on this wall,
pays no attention
to el vago, con safos,
when a last stroke
embraces this wall con vida,
la gente lean back on their heels,
drink this vision,
river of their hearts
that has wound its way
thru a lost hope,
now reborn as sol,
luna,
tierra,
esperanzas like rainbows,
suenos de mariposasas,
multicolored protest and revolution,
for the gente
this wall becomes
cantos de aguilas,
lloronas long cry,
El Grito de Dolores. Phil Goldvarg 1/14/98 SacrAztlan C/S First published in the Chicano Park Day ~ 30 Year Commemoration Program ~ April 22 ~ 23 ~ 2000
Poem Para la Dedication de un Mural for my compa Raúl Valdez & los niños y niñas de "La Brooke" Elementary por raúlrsalinas -que en paz descanse- En esta
mi Comunidad
complete
beats the drumming
of an active
HeartSong
Long neglected
walls and halls
de l'escuelita
of youthful
vecindad.
Pintor
of blazing
pinceles,
manteles con flames
decorados. Trenzas Indígenas
immersed
in hojas rojas
paper paginas
(la historia)
brotando de nuevo
on walls
cantando colores
olores de flores
in ArcoIris Danza
Chanza que un dia
(con alegria)
caring and sharing
con ninos of
Rainbow people spirits
walking/talking
with us
not knowing of each other,
learning
en la lucha
de tú/yo
you & me
we
then, can understand
comprender
apreciar
to respect
the similarities
las diferencias
of World culture
que's lo mero
Esencial -austin, a 15 de septiembre del 1983
East of the Freeway
1995 Red Salmon Press | | |
