The 15th Annual Mercado de las Artes ("Market of The Artists"),
Heard Museum on Nov. 12-13
by Lan Jiang, 11/18/2016, updated 12/20/2016
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Hispanic Art thrives as an accompany with the increased Hispanic population in Arizona. From formal art exhibition to casual street graffiti, different ages and styles Hispanic artists decorate the metro Phoenix in their own way.
Almost a hundred Hispanic artists from Arizona, New Mexico and even Mexico gathered together to attend the 15th Mercado de las Artes (“Market of the Artists”) at the Heard Museum, attempting to depict the vivid and enthusiastic Hispanic culture. It is an annual market and the largest of its kind in Arizona. Since Arizona is a border state neighboring Mexico, Hispanic culture plays a role in the Valley. Matthew R. Cordova has been a full-time artist for three years. He brings his latest artworks to the market. Paintings pay homage to the Day of the Dead, delicate wood sculptures and beautiful Santos of Virgin Mary, all of them are organized on the showcase table. One of Cordova‘s favorite works is a Santo, a Hispanic statue, of Virgin Mary. It took him one month to finish this artwork. Cordova prefers to merge the religious theme into his artwork because part of Hispanic culture is influenced by the religious element. “In the 1500s Spaniards went to New Mexico to start building churches, beautiful churches, all the families helped out,” Cordova said. Cordova uses wood, torque and some traditional Hispanic elements in his artworks. Many people like his Santo sculptures and collect them.
When Cordova chooses the religious theme, another Hispanic artist from New Mexico, Richard Trujillo, adopts another symbolized Hispanic icon, death, into his works. There are over one hundred death masks hanging on his showcase wall. There is a skeleton on a girl’s face and colorful paintings on skull bones, which interest many of the attendants. It is not scary. It is not Halloween. It allows you to see your past ones go to a next life. So you celebrate the death. So you use the skeleton. It is the symbol of that. It is festive,” Trujillo said. He presents the death theme through his painting technique. He explains that is because he has some personal relation with the past people.
“It helps me to cope with my own past, present, as well as the celebration,” Trujillo said. Trujillo is a veteran artist and has a formal job as a generator. It is his eighth year at the market. He said he is glad to see more and more people accept the Hispanic culture, which means a lot to him. “When I grew more and educated with more history. I felt fascinated with the depth of the Latin culture, different antiquities of the culture,” he said.
For Cordova, he wants to preserve the culture.
It is traditional to the church, it is Spanish tradition, so I want to keep traditions alive. We don’t want to die off, you know,” Cordova said. Traditional Hispanic art impressed the attendants. Gloria Montano Greene is a Mexican-American. She said coming to the market is about more than the art.
“For those who are Mexican, we get to see our culture here. And those who aren’t Mexican, they learn about some of the things. They learn about our art, our history. Sometimes they learn more about who we are,” she said. Young Hispanic artists are exploring their own ways
While tradition means a lot to those veteran Hispanic artists, young Hispanic artists develop their art in a modern and more commercial way. Matheo Cadena is 23 years old. He describes himself as a multimedia and web designer, as well as an artist. He is now a freelancer. Recently, he is working on an opening project for a mental and body training center. “When I do art, I usually do more than my internal world, my internal self to help other people. But when I do design, I listening to other people and take in their internal world and visualize it,” he said. He said young artists are more commercial than the veteran artists. A lot of my generation seems to focus on popular culture, commercialism is what is driving that of course. They all very brand centric. They focus on artists and celebrities they want to be,” he said. But Cadena tries to pull himself away from that and tries to focus on some social problems through his artworks.
“I try to focus on people around me and issues that people struggle with, not just in the United States but globally,” he said. Not like most of the young artists, Cadena says as an artist he always is interested in the social movements. Art is a power to make the world better. “I feel like art movement drive social movements, and social movements deive art movements. They are centric to each other. They are not separate from each other,” he said. Cadena said his personal experience influenced that. He mentioned that Hispanic families are suffering from drug abuse and those kind of problems. He experienced that and wants to get rid of that. He wishes his artworks could help people to be optimistic. “He is very talented. He put his talent and his personality into his art, it’s kind of his signature. He is very enthusiastic,” she said. Megan’s best friend is a Hispanic, that drives her learn more about the Hispanic culture. “What I like Hispanic culture is the family values and also they like a lot of colors. If you go to a Mexican restaurant, it is colorful, wardrobe, colorful. I appreciate that,” she said. She is hoping Matheo to design something to put up on her office’s wall. Background, nowadays and future Since one third of Arizona’s population is Hispanic, it is not surprising to encounter some Hispanic art on the street. Sometimes people can identify the symbols of the Hispanic culture, like skeletons or death masks. Sometimes it can just be distinguished by its vivid color. Jose Andres Giron has been an artist for over 40 years, He also built up the Arizona Latino Arts and Culture Center to preserve and promote Hispanic culture. It is becoming more and more mainstream. We are being more accepted," he said. Giron noticed that graffiti art is kind of spreading through the valley in recent years. He himself also made some graffiti art when he was asked to. But he also points out that only when the art is collected or bought by others, the culture is preserved.
“Graffiti artists are becoming more known and collected. It’s becoming popular. Modern and contemporary, ” he said. Cadena moved to Phoenix from New Hampshire four years ago. He was impressed that the Hispanic artists’ community linked so tightly in Phoenix. “They help each other succeed, they help each other find exposure, or a medium to express themselves. Everyone is family to each other, sharing, caring and listening and encouraging each other to succeed,” he said.
“Arizona is a little bit different from New Mexico. Most artists grew up in some of the poor neighborhoods. These artists are more often graffiti artists. I try to mentor young graffiti artists starting with spray cans and then move him into a higher level of art. So they are more proud of their execution of art and do something positive with their art, not negative,” he said.
Giron also hopes young artists keep traditional culture and techniques when they put new elements into their artworks. “We made some strides and it is time for young artists to make the strides,” he said. |
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