Panel Discussion on Latin American Photography at MoLAA

Some Acknowledgements

The production of art and culture usually requires the work and assistance of a large group of people. This is certainly the case of my latest photographic body of work and exhibition at the "Centro de la Imagen" in Mexico City. I need to acknowledge the people that helped me.

I would particularly like to thank Anthony Zepeda, Francesco Siqueiros and the Nopal Press. Friends, masters, collaborators, teachers and partners in crime in the dying field of the graphic arts and the impression. I do not see how their knowledge and craft will ever be substituted. Mario Rangel my etching and "neographics" teacher, this last show and body of work is dedicated to you. Thank you for introducing me to all sorts of artists and practices including the previously mentioned printers.

I would also like to thank all the people that helped me explore the Mayan mediterranean, Atlantis, the several promised lands, Easter Island in the empire of the rising sun, etc. Without them my last photographic project and the archeology of the globalized simulated archeology would not have been possible. Thanks to Shin Taniguchi for his invaluable help and companionship in Himeji and Awaji, the Adachi family in Fukuoka (Terumi the best cook, Joji for all the onsen, gadget and Ultraman exploration and Sauri for teaching us "imitation English"), Aurelio Asiain who tried to show me the "real" monuments in Kyoto and "Chingo" Sochu, Konstantinos Mavromichalis for his guidance in broken Japanese, Rex Yuasa for his advice, Magdalena Jitrik for driving the "milqui" Fiat 1500 across the pampas of Argentina while wired on mate in search of pyramids, castles, Roman temples, aliens and a tree that grows paintings, Julieta Ulanovsky for taking me to the "wailing wall," and the best Argentinean Tex-Mex music, Miguel Angel Merodio for logistical support in Catalan Mayan territories, Ana Pareja for a brief apparition, Pedro Romero for the good food and advice in Seville, Patrick Miller for the countless hours and patient photo service of all sorts, Glenna Jennings for her help resuscitating the UCSD photo lab, Daniel Mirer for the digital emergency line, Jesse Lerner for working on seminal projects that led to this thing and his knowledge, Roberto Tejada for the beautiful words, Estela Treviño, Juán Antonio Molina and Alejandro Castellanos for their interest on the work, etc.

Thanks for the support of the C.O.L.A. 2007 Individual Artis Fellowships, UCSD, Centro de la Imagen and Galería OMR.

Special thanks for Rhonda Ortiz for supporting and tolerating all of the above.

Presencia Flagrante/ El Pasado ya no es lo que Era

Estoy exponiendo con Marcos López en el Centro de la Imagen de la Ciudad de México en el marco de Fotoseptiembre que esta ocasión tiene como invitada especial a la Argentina.

Expongo lo mas reciente de mi producción fotográfica que incluye imágenes impresas en procesos que ahora llaman alternativos como la cyanotipia, el platino, las sales de plata, etc.

Desde los territorios perdidos de el sur de la Alta California he partido en diversas expediciones al Mediterraneo maya, la Atlántida, la isla de Páscua en el imperio de el sol naciente, el Egipto Americano y diversas tierras prometidas tanto australes como en el Noreste de América, Las fotografías de magníficos palacios, templos y otros monumentos son testimonio de que los habitantes de dichas regiones descienden de grandes civilizaciones. Hay quien argumenta que estas maravillas solamente pueden haber sido realizadas por seres superiores provenientes de otro planeta. Otros argumentan que fueron realizadas por una de las tribus perdidas de Mesoamérica.

Este trabajo documenta y por lo tanto nos presenta una “falsa verdad” de lo “verdaderamente falso”. Mientras las ruinas originales reconstruidas se presentan como una falsa verdad las copias de estas son verdaderamente falsas. La fotografía digital se imprime no para poder materializar la imagen como era necesario hacer a partir de negativos sino para legitimizarla como arte y comercializarla como objeto a partir de convenciones ortodoxas. De hecho limitar las posibilidades audiovisuales digitales a la fotografía es ya de por si hacer una reconstrucción historicista.

“La originalidad de la obra de arte es que es real y falsa simultáneamente.”

Aristóteles

Mario Rangel Faz 1956-2009

Mario Rangel Faz fue grabador, dibujante y pintor. Murió el día de hoy 16 de septiembre de 2009 de cancer en el pulmón. Fue alumno y maestro de la Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas y miembro fundador del grupo SUMA. Con ellos desarrollo gráfica experimental en la calle y el espacio público de la ciudad de México en los años setentas. Fueron precursores en el uso de stenciles, mimeografías, xerox en gran formato y lo que ahora llamamos "culturas públicas". Se podría argumentar que fue el grabador mas importante de su generación.

Maestro y amigo, nos vemos después.

Mario Rangel Faz was a printer, a draftsman and a painter born in Mexico. He died today September 16 of lung cancer. He was a student and a teacher of the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas where he was a founding member of the SUMA group. In the seventies they developed new graphic techniques to work on the streets and the public spaces of Mexico City. They used stencils, large format mimeographs and xeroxes and foresaw what we call now "public cultures." Arguably he was the most important engraver of his generation in Mexico.

Other presidents of African descent in America.

A lot it is going to be said this week about Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King as important precedents that made possible the election the first African American president of the United States. However there are other important historical figures that should be remembered as well. One of them is Vicente Guerrero (1781-1831) who was the first president in North America of African decent. He was one of the leading revolutionary generals of the Mexican War of Independence against Spain. His African roots came mostly from his father Pedro who was in the almost Afro-Mexican profession of mule driver in Tixtla. He became the second president of Mexico in 1829 fighting against Iturbide and other conservatives who wanted a constitutional monarchy that would favor the wealthy landowners through continued exploitation of the poor. He defended a democracy of all clases and races and abolished slavery. He was betrayed and executed by Vice-president Anastasio Bustamante in 1831. There is a state named in his honor. He was the grandfather of the important general, intellectual and writer Vicente Riva Palacio. 

We should also remember Alexandre Pétion (1770-1818) who was the first president of Haiti and one of its founding fathers. He was born in Port-au-Prince to a Haitian mother and a wealthy French white father. He was educated at the Millitary Academy in Paris and returned to Saint-Domingue to take part in the expulsion of the British from Saint-Domingue. Championing the ideals of democracy he became president of Haiti in 1806. He gave sanctuary to Simón Bolívar in 1815 and provided him with infantry and support. He died of yellow fever in 1818.

Samuel Huntington 1927-2008

I posted this commentary in yesterday's New York Times online obituary:

Huntington in his paranoid fear of immigrants and Muslims reflected more his intolerance and incapability of assimilation to the world at large. 

Paradoxically he had more faith and respect for Mexico's and Latin America's poor people believing that they will divide the most powerful empire in the history of humanity in two while Mexican (and some Chicanos like Rudy Acuña in his previous comment) intellectuals argue instead that despite abuse and segregation in their former lands they inoffensively will speak English, eat fast food, get fat, consume and become "Americans."

Is it a coincidence that Huntington died a week before there will be an African American president?

Ruben Ortiz Torres
Professor

UCSD

Hi 'n' Lo at LAXART

LAXART
2640 S La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, California
90034
US

Rubén Ortiz Torres: High ’n’ Lo  

Julio Cesar Morales: Interrupted Passage 

House of Campari Presents LAXART Project Space

November 15, 2008 – January 3, 2009
Opening reception: This Saturday, November 15, 7-9pm


Walk-through with Julio Cesar Morales and Aram Moshayedi
November 15, 6pm

For more information, gallery hours, and contact information, please visit www.laxart.org

LAXART’s programs are made possible with the generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Peter Norton Family Foundation, The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation, Danielson Foundation, The Audrey and Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation, Campari, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Eileen Harris Norton, The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, ForYourArt, The Standard Downtown LA, and the LAXART Board of Directors, Producers Council, Curators Council, founding members, and patrons. 

This exhibition is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

These projects are affiliated with the 2008 California Biennial, organized by the Orange County Museum of Art and curated by Lauri Firstenberg. 

High 'n' Lo was produced with support from Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia; MACLA; and the Zero1 Festival. Hydraulics by Salvador “Chava” Muñoz. Paint, chrome, rims, and grill by ADMWorks. 

Interrupted Passage was commissioned by New Langton Arts, San Francisco and produced in association with LAXART, Los Angeles, and OCMA, Newport Beach. It has been supported by the Nimoy Foundation, Tim and Nancy Howes, Fleishhacker Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation Fund for Artists Matching Commission, Larry Mathews, Deborah Schneider, Ted Ridgway and Ellena Ochoa, and Christopher Vroom.